#yes that your aloe looks very tasty

[whereisthedamndaddymanual]

Test drives my lesbian.

Discusses with twin sister.

She is very effective.

👂

Well you can if you can.

[feastofcadavers]

Surrounded in the overcoat that Aloe had given him, Mint's trembling hadn't subsided. Even as he was gently guided into the room Sandwich had told them to go into... The fear that the scene had instilled in him shook the poor violinist to his core. So much red... He felt the need to wretch even as the atmosphere became clean. Homely, even. Moving without seeing, lost in his terror-fueled haze, he was gently nudged into a chair and sat at a small table with Aloe kept behind him. Though he wasn't paying attention, he could feel the presence of the other behind him.

"I am sure you are startled, but..." Aloe settled a hand upon Mint's shoulder, attempting to find the right words. The musician laid his head against it, shivering against how cold it was compared to the heat of his panic. It was almost grounding in how much of a difference it was to his system... Almost. "Know this state you are in is not permanent, at least... The fear, that is." Ugh, the researcher wasn't meant for this type of comforting- or any kind for that matter. Though, if they were to think of what Co would do...

Should they? It could be invasive, cause something worse to occur, even spur on thoughts of the past they weren't entirely to trace back to. Then again, it was either this or have Mint get to the point of passing out or having his instincts go wild like them... And the very thought of Mint losing himself got the scientist to huff and close their compound eyes as they gently, and hesitantly, hugged the one that was so utterly shaken.

For the one who received it, the hug was... Something that he couldn't exactly register all too well. Despite how cold the taller happened to be, there was some quality that brought comfort that he hadn't felt in so, so long... Was it a touch that was meant to be something comforting? Secure? Safe? He didn't quite feel safe, but at least it was better than being left with nothing but himself and this coat to cling onto. "No harm will come to us here... So long as we remain calm..." The researcher murmured, voice just above a whisper. A moment, two, three passed before Aloe would remove themself from the other.

There was mainly silence that came over the room, save for Aloe's steps to sit across the quaint wooden table that the two would share. It seemed to be meant for two, as big as the room was. It was almost surreal... Such a warm place behind a gruesome coating of what was the cannibalistic nature the shop owner had. Having a moment of relative calm after such sudden and high amounts of panic were sure to leave some type of daze in the atmosphere...

...one that wouldn't be noted by the slamming open of the door and who else but Sandwich bursting through with her stacked plates of plate, sandwich, plate, sandwich, and Spinny upon her shoulder! Despite how solemn the both of them seemed- including the fear that Mint had due to the door opening so suddenly- Sammy grinned as she swiftly set the sandwiches down before the both of them. To the untrained eye, these sandwiches would look akin to normal meat and cheese sandwiches. Neither would dare ask where the cheese came from for this case.

Mint would silently pick up his sandwich, gaze settling on the white plate beneath it as he would eat the awful substance. His stomach growled quietly with his first bite as if it was reminded of what is required. He was oblivious to his own body's reactions at this point, mind staring sightlessly at the plate that showed his reflection. It was so similar to what it used to be, but the bags under his eyes were more than prominent. Huh... And here he thought he had gotten a good night's sleep. Oh well. At least he can eat in thoughtlessness.

"I certainly hope you two enjoy your meals! If you need, I can get some water for the both of you, too!" Sandwich's whole body tilted to the side as if she was curious about the response she would receive. Though Mint was lost in his head, Aloe quietly nodded as they took their food in one hand. As prim and proper as they are, their eating habits were... Less than that. At least they wouldn't speak with their mouth full. "That would be appreciated. Though before you do so-" Ah, they had caught the slicer before she went out the door. Too eager to serve, wasn't she? "I... I have a few questions about you and that doll of yours..."

"Doll? This is no plushie or anything of the sort! This is Spinny!"

"Right... I have a question about Spinny."

"Go on, then! Anything for a dear cursed customer!"

There was a gentle huff as Aloe would contemplate how to phrase such a question without offending the other party. She seemed in such denial that someone dear to her was gone. Though they couldn't help but admit that in the same situation, they wouldn't consider that someone to be 'gone', either. "So, I assume that something horrid had happened to Spinny, yes? Did it happen to be fatal?"

Sandwich's face twisted into something that had never been seen from her before. Was it disgust? Fear? Something along those lines... But it was quickly shrugged off for that ever-chipper smile and voice pitched for joyousness. "Well, kind of! She was a tasty snack that I was planning on planting for the sake of, ahaha, getting away with things! But this lovely lady offered to help me out of my despair! And repair Spinny into something she could live through again! And all it took was a small part of her and some sweet memories! Truffle is such a sweet lady, I tell ya!" That... most certainly caught the many-eyed scientist's attention. "And she was brought back to life? In this new d-... In this new, cloth-covered form?"

"Mhm!! Spinny is practically as good as new!" The server gently picked up the doll from her shoulder, holding her out in front of Aloe. They could see the little thing squirm, which was followed by Sammy laughing giddily and bringing her back to the shoulder of comfort. "She's super shy, but when alone with me, she acts just as she did before she became a little wacky snacky!" The prospect gave Aloe a glimmer of hope, eyes widening for a moment before they realized that there was likely more than meets the eye. Let the excitement die down before letting disappointment and despair consume them again... Though perhaps there could be some consideration, right?

Aloe let themself take a bite of their sandwich, body feeling a wave of relief over finally being fed properly, before swallowing and following up on the conversation. "So, if you happened to have such an encounter, would you happen to know her location?"

"Oh, of course! In fact, I visit her often! If you'd like to see her, you can even do something for me in exchange!"

"That seems entirely fair... What would that happen to entail, though? I would never accept a deal without knowing both ends of the offer." ...or if they happened to be in a state of desperation, accompanied by a 'this is the only way' mentality. They were lucky not to have such at this very moment, and that the deal would be as calm as it is. "All I ask is that you deliver something for me! I run a special sandwich over to her every other day or so as thanks, so! When you two head out, I'll give you instructions on some slip and a bag full of sandwiches for her!"

"Just a delivery, hmm? Understood. We will accept your offer... It is not as if we have any other means to spend the rest of our time today... Ah, what was the woman's name again?"

"Truffle! The widow! Though- ahaha- don't call her a widow directly unless you call her a spider! She loves those!"

"How fitting for someone sympathetic of us..." Spiders and mosquitos... The relationship between the two of them was glossed over by the researcher as their mind wandered to something far more hopeful. Obliviously faithful, one could say. Such as one could be for someone near and dear... Such as they would be for them... "I accept your offer. Now, ah, you are free to grab us water. Pardon for holding you up."

"No biggie, no biggie! Just enjoy your sammies!! I will be back! Incredibly soon! Faster than juice through a kid's silly straw!!"

[weabbynormalblog]

The 10 must have healthful things for a beautiful you; inside and out.

(2-3minute read) I'll list pertinent *recipes below.

1) Omega 369-If you don't eat fish, you should definitely take this supplement. Your missing out on vital antioxidants and protein building fatty chains of omega goodness. This is a supplement. It can thin your blood so check with your meds and your doctor first. I suggest eat fish at least once a week. It's all the healthy fats, amino acids and proteins that your body needs to support healing as well as maintain healthy muscles, joints, skin and brain. Sea food is brain food. Salmon and sardines have the most benefits. Often very low in calories and high in good fats and proteins. These unsaturated fats have been known to help calm the auto immune response. Did you know the brain is primarily made of fat? About 60%. So ya I'm a fat head, we all are.

2) Olive Oil-Very Vegan friendly. Also contains these healthy fats and acids and is a better alternative for cooking than with Cannola oil, which is made from GMO crops and then heavily processed(look out triggers). Not only can you cook with Olive oil it's also low in saturated fat. It makes an amazing moisturizer, *Hair Mask Treatment and daily supplement. Look into the story of Lorenzos Oil. Great health benefits for those with brain issues and has antibacterial properties.

3) Walnuts-If you don't consume nuts on a regular basis and you don't have allergies, at least have a handful of walnuts a day. It contains vitamin E, high in antioxidants, fiber, protein and it's considered a whole food. You can also use it directly on wood furniture to fill in light surface scratches too.

4) Almonds-Also high in good fats, fiber, antioxidant rich and full of protein. Trail mix is a great healthy on the go snack. Avoid the salted and sweet variety. Nuts are really good for your vascular system. Reduces bloodpressure and aids good cholesterol and overall circulation. Nuts also include vitamins and minerals that helps maintain healthy skin, nails and hair. It helps produce collagen and destroys free radicals. Almond flour is a great alternative for baking opposed to wheat flour(major trigger). Naturally gluten free and never bleached.

5) Lemon juice-You say why? Lots of reasons. It's handy when baking and cooking. *Lemon water is great for flushing out your system. Being high in vitamin C it's a great natural energy booster and helps maintain your immune system. It cleans your liver and kidneys. It's a natural antibacterial(acid). Ideal for washing out your water bottle and cleaning your cutting board-pour lemon juice all over your cutting board and leave for 10-15 minutes then wash. You'll never want to use bleach again. It's a very good household cleaner; especially when combined with baking soda or other natural ingredients. It also makes a wonderful *facial clarifier to lighten brown patches and reduce acne. Use it as a rinse for your hair, it will add shine and strength. I could go on and on. A must have on hand.

6) Coco nut oil- Caution low smoking point, do not use for frying. Oh what a wonderful vegan fat! You can use it as a moisturizer (I use it everyday-absorbs into your skin quickly). Use it in baking instead of butter and in sauces. No saturated fat. Only the good stuff. It's also a natural antibacterial. Cures foot fungus and helps heal skin irritations like razor burn and as an antibacterial for scrapes, cuts and burns. It's loaded with vitamins and minerals. It's even used as a mouth rinse for its antibacterial properties. It's also a natural sun screen. Many good uses! And very tasty in a *Banana smoothie meal replacement.

7) Aloevera-Growing this succulent offers a wide variety of uses. Do not over water. It's like a cactus, usually 3-5 weeks in between watering in a sunny spot. Use topically for cuts and sunburns. Cut pieces as you need them off the end of the leaves. 3 per household is adequate. This plant packs a powerful punch. Use on your hair as a mask, it promotes strength, shine and removes excess oil. In *smoothies it aids digestion and offers some relief for IBS and autoimmune sufferers. It is somewhat pungent, but can be masked easily with other natural ingredients such as *Honey, ginger and lemon for example.

8) Long Oats-Makes a wonderful gluten free flour. It's a whole grain. Delicious in muffins, granola bars and cookies. It also will reduce skin inflammation when used topically and aid digestion when ingested. Great for insect stings, Chicken Pox, Eczema to sunburns and tasty too. High in dietary fiber, we can all use a bit more of that. It's wonderful as a *Body scrub in the tub or shower. My favorite in an Apple Brown Betty.

9) Pineapple-The highest amount of vitamin C per cup, better than oranges but not as high as a Durian and certainly more tasty. Rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The best bang for your am nutritional needs.

10) Honey is a wonderful cure all for cuts, burns, acne, sore throats and boasts high dietary benefits. I eat a 1TSB -1TBS of unpasteurized honey a day. It's great as a low sugar sweetener, in sauces and baking.

Hair Mask Treatment: Combined 3-4 TBS of Olive oil with 2-4TBS honey. I have really long hair. For short to medium length hair 2TBS of each, mix at room temperature and apply to hair from the ends up. I use a clean flat end 1" paint brush. Pile your hair up on top and wait 15-20 minuts. Yes, it's really sticky. And the Aloevera is gooey. A 4"-6" piece should suffice. What they don't tell you about this treatment online(5 minutes girly crafts) is that you must wash your hair thoroughly after because of the Olive oil. You may want to spritz a detangeler or do a cream rinse. No more split ends and the shine is awesome. Huge b4 and after for me; long coloured treated hair. I thought the results were certainly worth it.

Lemon water- Start your day with 8 ounces of water and 1TBS lemon juice and finish your day with another glass after dinner or before bed for the best bealth benefits.

Facial Clarifier-2-3TBS of lemon juice, 2-3 TSP Aolevera. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes as a mask Or use as daily as a wipe prior to washing and applying make up. Evens skin tones. Prevents acne. Use as a scrub, mix with 1TBS of kosher salt or large granulated sugarcane or maple sugar.

Oats Body Scrub

1 cup of long oats, 2 TBS of honey, 2-3TBS Aloe Vera. It will form into a ball. You can coat your hands in Olive oil and store in some plastic wrap. CAUTION straight Aloe Vera on open cuts will sting. Place scrub in a clean sick or use directly on skin. Maybe shave your legs after.

Banana Smoothie Meal Replacement-Mix 1 TBS of Honey(ti taste) with, 1TSP minced fresh Ginger, 1-2TBS room temperature coconut oil, 1-2TBS of Aloevera(optional), mix into 1 cup of Milk or Rice milk or thin style Yoghurt. Add 1TBS of Oat flour(Pea or Protein powder) and a frozen Banana(a perfect use for that over ripe banana). Peals easily with a knife when frozen. Hold it in at dish cloth. Break up the frozen banana and blend in the blender and enjoy. For added protein punch add your favorite nut butter or protein powder. This is a meal replacement design to aid nausea, promotes intestinal and gut flora health and helps calm the reactive immune response. I love it!

I hope you enjoyed my list of good stuff!

[chronicallycozy-blog]

Look Wonderful With These New Beauty Advice

We all want to search their best. The important thing to capitalizing on your attractiveness and looking after a youthful look would be to research the very best beauty tips and find out which splendor techniques are the very best. Once you know what beauty tips to utilize, that it easy to search your greatest. This article is filled up with excellent beauty tips. Softly spray your skin using a hydrating mist to create your make-up keep going longer. The mist can help establish your cosmetics, ensure that it stays searching fresh and provide you with that just completed makeup products try to find time. This is fantastic for trying to keep your make-up in place for those very long days and nights at the job or night time by helping cover their good friends. Vitamin E can be a valuable natural treatment to obtain accessible. There are lots of methods to take advantage of this curing nutritional. Vitamin E will keep the skin silky sleek. Vitamin E is also an excellent way to soften cuticles. To produce small eyeballs show up larger, consider liner your decrease waterline having a white colored or peach colored eyeliner. By lightening colour of your own waterline so it combines far better with all the bright white part of your eyesight, you could make the impression your eye are greater and happier than they are really. Well before wearing your chosen flip flops for that summer seasons, take time to hydrate the feet using Vaseline. Prior to mattress, slather your toes having a thicker coating of Vaseline and deal with these with a classic kind of stockings. As you sleep, the Vaseline will enter thick, calloused epidermis, helping remove holes and dry skin. Another morning whenever you get rid of the stockings, your feet will be soft and soft so that you can use your best flip flops with pride. If you have problems retaining wilderness and unruly brows tamed, you can keep them under control by spraying a brow brush with a certain amount of hairspray or crystal clear brow gel, then delicately combing your brows into position. For shaping, you may even work with a small dab of Vaseline. You do not need to spend a ton of money with a fancy deeply conditioning mask. There are several tasty recipes you may make in your house that come with foods filled with vitamins and minerals that are perfect for hair. A great a single contains mashed strawberries and enough mayonnaise to produce a spreadable mixture. Leave it in your drenched locks for 10-20 minutes and rinse. When your locks is greasy or oily, a great way to repair this in the event you don't have plenty of time to wash it, is to try using a bronzer portable or baby powder. Brunettes need to have bronzer lightweight and increase more oily head of hair, and blondes should do the same with baby natural powder. This can for the short term conceal your unwashed your hair. Change pricey, designer brand merchandise with a delicate washcloth, a light toner, castile soap, white wine vinegar or witch hazel, and a few natural Natural Aloe Vera gel to your cream. These are typically very good for any kind of type of skin. If aloe alone is just not supplying enough humidity, boost it some vitamin e antioxidant oil. If you need a medicated toner, consider introducing some herbal tea plant oil. Alter your pillowcase to help make oneself more stunning. A straightforward way to avoid unnecessary wrinkles is usually to switch your situation from your natural cotton kind to some satin or silk situation. 100 % cotton is drying and tough on epidermis and yes it known to result in lines and wrinkles, generally, on the side of your face which you sleep on. By using a face treatment cream is amongst the greatest steps you can take to enhance your beauty. Even when you have oily skin, it is actually continue to a great idea. Put it on each night before you go to get to sleep. When you have added dried-out skin, it is advisable also to use lotion in the morning too. To increase the resilience of skin area and therefore reduce the possibilities of stretchmarks, be determined by olive oil! Everybody has extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen area and each week you must take it within the toilet and use it rather than your normal moisturizing lotion right after showering. Massage it properly to your belly, buttocks and legs for increased pores and skin energy and also to continue to keep all those nasty stretchmarks away!

A great way to accentuate the top lash line instead of generate an overly spidery fringe is to use a strip in the bogus lashes that are used for your reduced lashes. Implement from corner to corner and because they are shorter than usual falsies, they will thicken the lash line and not trigger excessive elongation. For delicate ft ., implement cream or Vaseline and place in cling cover prior to going to sleep. You should then set stockings on your ft. You want to do this one or more times every week for the softest ft .. This will likely put together the driest ft for summer time and putting on flip flops. Often strategies our grandmothers applied are still successful. For example, a fast way to add more tightening for your face is always to concoct your very own mask made up of fresh lemon juice and egg whites. Use one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice as well as 2 egg-whites and relate to encounter. Leave on for thirty minutes, rinse and pat the face dried up. You'll appearance remarkable after. If you dislike the down sides of clumpy and matted eyelashes, use an eye lash curler. This makes the eyelashes dense and full without having to use any products. When using the curler, begin on the roots and simply use on lashes which are clean. Over time your lashes can become satisfied, thicker, and exquisite. You may want to take into account tinting your eye-brows. This can be done day-to-day with an eyebrow pencil or ask them to colored on your beauty salon. Tinting your eyebrows will help you to define your face while keeping you hunting youthful. As was reported previous in this post, everyone would like to look their very best. The true secret to searching wonderful and looking after a vibrant shine, is always to keep yourself well-informed and discover the most effective attractiveness secrets. When you spend some time to examine the sweetness suggestions in this post and use it properly, you will be on the right track to hunting better than you have well before.

[chalcid]

4: Sneaking Into School (Disappear)

The evening sky was soft and purple. A couple of orange campfires dotted the beach. I suspected that the number of people willing to set a fire would decrease after the incident in the chemistry lab.

"So, wait, I'm confused, do we or do we not have school tomorrow," Trite asked.

"It's looking like yes," Edonia said, scrolling through the school website on her phone.

Trite slurped a cup of soda. Where had he found that? "Really? The school can't be back in working condition after only one day off, it was lit on fire."

"Don't be so dramatic, the whole school didn't catch on fire, just a classroom," Edonia said. "Chemistry class is going to be weird, for those who have it, but other than that nothing happened."

"But what about poor, poor Merika," Trite said, gesturing to me. "She was set on fire, practically."

"Eh," I said with a dismissive hand wave "From what I can tell, they aren't even bad enough to leave much of a scar. That doesn't mean it isn't annoying, or that I'm not starting to hate the smell of aloe, but it's something. I 'can't go diving until all my wounds heal', according to Uncle Decimus, so instead, I'm just working in the shop, listening to him rant about my dad and Tilly, and how disrespectful they are to my mom just by existing," I sighed.

"I thought you agreed that they were being very disrespectful to your mom," Trite said carefully.

"It's more complicated than that," I said "Fundamentally, all this is my dad's fault, but Mom needs to stop avoiding conflict and face reality, and Tilly," I sighed "She's not evil or anything, but I wish..." I stopped "I don't know what I wish. Dad wants her to replace Mom, and I strongly disagree. Oh, and then on Thursday, it's Tilly's turn to watch her kids, so I'll have to put up with so many questions."

No one said anything for a bit. Trite slurped his soda loudly.

"So, did you have a chance to read the articles I printed for you," Edonia said, resting her chin on her hands?

"Uh," I said, "I skimmed them?"

"Let me know what you think when you finish them," Edonia smiled at me "Then we can discuss theories."

I glanced at my wrist, before realizing that I wasn't wearing any watches. I dug through the pockets of my military jacket. No pocket watches earlier. My collection of timepieces had to be one of the largest on this tiny island, and yet I hadn't brought a single clock with me.

"Well, it appears I have no idea what the time is," I announced. "And when you don't know when it is, as they say, that's when you should retreat to the safety of your home."

Edonia nodded like I said something wise.

Trite frowned in confusion "Okay, first, have you been possessed by some fancy, crazy god? Second, I've never heard anyone say that ever. Is that something that they say in the Secret Society of Introverts?"

"I just made that up," I admitted "And if there is a Secret Society of Introverts, I resent that they haven't invited me yet. Guess I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"See you then," Trite said cheerfully. "Oh, and don't forget to ask my siblings how chemistry class goes for them. They have it second and third periods, I think.

"Okay, I can do that," I said. I dusted the sand off my bag, picked it up, and sprinted toward my house. "Tell your siblings they need to get lots of sleep," I called over my shoulder.

Shoot. Why didn't I just say that the papers probably burned? I had to get those papers back tomorrow.

I got up bright and early, sent the triplets a text I wouldn't be at the bus stop.

Cautiously, I opened the door to Tilly and the babies' room.

"Mrs. Harley?"

"Tilly," she corrected sleepily.

"Right," I said "I need I ride to school? Do you think you could...?"

"Yeah, sure." She sat up and tried to fix her mess of hair and smooth her pink bathrobe.

...

Tilly, not at all concerned about the fact no one seemed to be there, dropped me off at the school. I crossed the parking lot, which was empty and forbidding (save one car). I tried the door. It was locked.

Surprise, surprise, not a single door was unlocked. I sunk to the ground, trying to think of a new strategy. Pick the lock? That, unfortunately, was not a skill set in my arsenal. Wait patiently? I'm not super great at that, either, especially when it's a chilly morning. Car, tree, squirrel, powerlines? Throw the squirrel at the door? No, that wouldn't work. I squinted at the car. Was someone inside it?

I knocked on the car window. Somebody, wrapped in blankets, groaned and cranked down the window to scowl at me. "What do you want?"

"Thordis," I said, surprised. I didn't know her too well. I think she was in my history class, but she and I didn't really talk. Most everyone kind of avoided her actually, and it seemed like that was fine by her. She usually dressed in all orange and red (the colors of evil in our culture), but right now she was wrapped in a fleecy brown blanket. It, quite frankly, was adorable."What are you doing here?"

"I live here sometimes," Thordis said nonchalantly "What do you want?"

"Oh, so for personal reasons, I need to break into the chemistry lab," I said "Please don't ask. Would that be a thing you could help me do?"

"One sec," Thordis said. She rummaged around a little bit and pulled out some keys. "Okay, let's go retrieve whatever it is you won't tell me about."

"Let's do that," I agreed.

Thordis hopped out of the car and unlocked the doors "After you, my lady."

"Thank you, good sir," I joked.

The lights were off, but after a few steps, they lit up with a click. The halls, normally filled with kids from all around the island, were empty. A bucket was lying on its side, abandoned.

"Okay, so I don't actually know where the chemistry lab is," Thordis said, "so you'll have to lead the way."

Down the halls and up the stairs we went.

"Do you sneak around in here before school starts a lot?" I asked politely.

"Nah," Thordis said "Whenever I'm here, I usually sleep up until last minute."

"What about breakfast?" I asked "Sorry, am I being nosy? I'm really nervous, and I guess I'm a nervous talker, hah hah."

"Whoa, what is this thing you've lost?" Thordis joked "Some cursed artifact that will doom the whole island if you don't put it back?"

"Uh, no," I admitted.

"Hey, my locker," Thordis said brightly. "I'm feeling hungry, how about you? I've got, like, six flavors of cheese puffs, a couple of chip bags, half a soda, and some smashed chocolate bars."

"I'll take some chips please," I said.

"This isn't my usual breakfast, by the way," Thordis said, handing over the chips "This is just my snack stash."

"That's good to hear," I said. "As appealing as junk  food for breakfast every day sounds, I really don't think it's a good idea. If only they made chocolate bars that were healthy for you..."

"That's basically just a protein bar," Thordis pointed out.

"Protein bars don't taste very good, though."

"How dare you insult protein bars in my presence," Thordis declared. "I'm kidding, but they are nutritious and tasty."

"Oh, look, we're here," I said, instead of correcting her.

"Alright, would you like me to leave or...?"

"Please don't," I said "I'm irrationally scared."

"I see," Thordis said running a hand through her bright orange hair, "I'm going to stay in the doorway, though. Far away from cursed objects."

I strode over to the table I was using yesterday. No sign of the articles. I checked Deyaniras spot, and then all the other tables, but nothing.

I was about the give up when Thordis said "There's something under the table."

I checked under the table, and sure enough, there was a charred paper packet. I pulled out what was left of the articles, and... I think I started crying.

Thordis was there in a flash, trying to reassure me.

"What a stupid thing to cry about," I sniffled.

"It's not," Thordis said gently.

"Edonia was looking forward to discussing theories with me," I blubbered. "I let down my friend."

"I'm sure she'll understand," Thordis said. "Listen, no pressure or anything, but I think we shouldn't stick around."

"Yes," I agreed, wiping my faced "Let's get out of here now."

[velvetjinx]

I legit used to work with some of the funniest people. Behold.

[skimmonsfiction]

Wherever You Go, Ch4

COWRITTEN with @pitkin084 (Pitkin on Ao3)

A/N: ‘Tis an EVEN longer one!

Warning: Graphic depictions of injuries (gore)

Read it on Ao3

Chapter 4 (Do All Birds Shriek?):

During the night, Skye and Jemma had done a bit of shifting here and there. Skye waited for Jemma to wake up enough that she could take a moment to add extra wood to the fire to keep it going, and eventually they wound up lying next to and half on top of each other under one of the travel blankets. Fitz gave her quite a few glares in the morning, but Skye did her best to ignore them. She hadn't eaten much of anything since the plane, so her first order of business once she woke up was to eat half her protein bar from the day before. She offered the other half to Jemma (maybe purposefully waiting for Fitz to go fill his water bottle before she offered). 

After she filled up her own water bottle, Skye went to talk to Coulson, who was in the shallows working with Trip and a net Trip made, casting out to try and catch the camp some fish. She explained her plan about heading into the jungle to search for food and any other water sources other than just rain. Coulson told her to round up a few people to take with her. Mack, Yoyo and Hunter each volunteered despite their own still healing minor wounds. If Skye could do all she'd done with her wound, they could (and had been so far too) contribute as well. Skye spoke with Coulson again. He let Yoyo and Hunter each take a knife. Mack preferred to stick with the axe he'd taken from the plane wreckage instead. Skye had them gather an extra water bottle each and a pack of some kind each. She used her own messenger bag to hold her water and, hopefully to help her cart food home later. That first trek into the jungle, after the sounds they'd heard the night before, it was tense. Hunter knew how to set snare traps, so Skye gave him her floss container to use as rope. Every so often, he found a set of small tracks and would stop to set up a snare for them to check later. They came upon a couple of useful plants. Skye dug up two medium sized aloe plants by the roots (to avoid squishing them and losing their value) and loaded them in her bag for Jemma. She'd asked Jemma to describe a few plants that might help her if they came across them and this was one of them. They also came across a small patch of mango trees and took turns climbing up to pick fruit. There were a number of coconut trees on the beach that they'd already started raiding, so mangoes would be a decent change. The first trek didn't leave them with a huge haul but it was decent enough. They managed an okay haul to split among everyone: an entire backpack of mangoes, a dozen or so papayas, some bananas, three rabbits caught in Hunter's snares, an assortment of banana shoots, banana leaves, papaya leaves and palms (for various uses), four aloe plants, and half a backpack of noni fruit and leaves (Skye couldn't remember the technical name Jemma had given her for this when she'd drawn the fruit on a piece of paper for her but she'd been relieved to find it after Jemma told her it could be used as a coagulant, antiseptic, fever reducer and an analgesic - Skye was a little too proud to ask what that last one was and had just accepted that this plant would be incredibly useful). It was late in the afternoon when the jungle trek crew returned, quite a bit sweaty and ripe. Skye let the others take the edible items to Coulson and the main group. She took Mack's backpack and her messenger bag to the 'hospital' tent along with some extra mangoes and papayas to cut up for Jemma and the patients. "Hey," she said when she spotted Jemma inside. "We got some things from your list, Doc," she smiled and sat the bags down so Jemma could go through and see the various plants they'd returned with. "We can bring more tomorrow when we go back in," She said. "Maybe we'll even find some of the others on the list too. Hunter managed to snag a few rabbits. I think we picked more mangoes than we have coconuts and from what I saw when heading this way, it looks like Trip caught some fish," Perhaps they might not starve to death while living on protein bars alone after all.

Jemma looked up from redressing a patient's wound when Skye set the bags down and approached. A smile automatically spread across her lips and a relieved sigh came with it. She had no idea what was in the jungle that could make such horrendous sounds, but she didn't want anyone to have to find out, especially Skye. "Really?" Jemma got up after quickly finishing her work on May and came to check out the new supplies. As she rifled through the bag she recognized several plants she had asked for. They were versatile, so she would be able to more than just cut and sew now. She saw the mangos and papayas next and though she probably should have been more excited about the plants, her stomach had been rumbling and a protein bar and part of a coconut was not enough to eat for two days. "You found fruit?!" Jemma picked out a mango and sliced it in half with her knife, offering the other half to Skye. She'd have to distribute the rest to the few patients who hadn't been able to get up and walk around yet. "Oh my god." Jemma made an embarrassingly happy sound when she bit into it. It was the most food she'd had in days and fresh fruit was definitely preferable to processed, not very tasty protein bars.

Skye grinned broadly at Jemma’s reaction to the fruit. She’d already eaten a couple on the walk back to camp so she stepped over to May to give her the other half of the mango. When she stood back up, she stepped closer to Jemma, watching her face as she ate that little half mango like it was the best food she’d ever experienced in her life. She hooked her thumbs into her back pockets and rocked on her heels slightly as she smiled. “We have more than what’s in the bag, I just...brought a couple of them back for you,” She suddenly felt inexplicably bashful about this fact as she shrugged her shoulders up at her own comment.

"Really?" Jemma tried not to sound too excited about it. It was probably better to contribute everything to the rationing system, but she was so hungry and her patients deserved a little more to eat while they were weak as well. "Thank you, Skye. I hope you don't mind if I share them all. I wouldn't feel right eating more than my share." Jemma smiled and started distributing the fruit to her remaining patients and came back to Skye. There were two left and Jemma wasn't going to let them go to waste. She tried not to scarf them down, so she cut off little slices with her knife and ate it in pieces. Obviously it wasn't the same blade she used for surgery, though. Coulson had let her take another of the smaller blades to keep with the medical kit. It wouldn't do to have her using the same knife for surgery as she did for practical reasons, whatever they may be.

Skye shook her head and smiled at Jemma's generosity. "No, of course not. There's enough to go around." She'd already known Jemma would give them to other people (fairly) and had packed the bag accordingly just to make sure Jemma still got enough of them herself. Skye didn't consider it favoritism since it wasn't like, in this case, there wasn't enough to go around. Her gift of the protein bars after the rainstorm might have been a bit of favoritism, but it was what it was and Skye didn't feel bad about that, either, since it wasn't as if she hadn't freely given over a ton of her personal items to take care of the rest of the camp.  Some minor indulgences were allowed. Right?  She moved to sit down in the sand, under the shade of the raft next to the bags. "I really do worry when you go into the jungle. Do you have any idea what made those screeching sounds we heard after the storm?" Jemma asked just before biting another fruit slice off of her knife.

Skye felt the tops of her ears redden. She shook her head. "Whatever it was, there was no sign of them, that I could tell at least, on the path we took." She assured. "Just rabbit tracks and some other little tracks Hunter found for small animals. We didn't hear any crazy screeches while we were in there either," Thankfully. Skye wasn't sure an ax and some knives would have held up well against whatever made those noises and, if at all possible, she wanted to keep her gun a secret as long as she was able to since its presence would lead to too many questions. Skye tried not to worry too much about it since she had limited control over their overall situation.

"I hope it stays that way." Jemma nodded thoughtfully. She was sure they weren't able to go up against whatever it was if they did come across it, but she knew the jungle trips were necessary, since she was eating because of it right now. All they could do was hope they were nocturnal and only go during the day (which was the smartest move anyway). "So you're reaping the benefits of the jungle trek too, huh?" Will appeared from out of nowhere since the women weren't paying much attention outside of their little world. Jemma gave a small wave since she was chewing to suffice as a hello and a yes. "Thanks for these. They're amazing." Will nodded down to Skye with a smile as he bit into a papaya. "If you need some more hands, or feet, or anything really, I'd be happy to join in on the next run." Will offered.

And just like that, Skye's tired but relatively relaxed mood dissipated on the wind. She tensed at the sound of Will's voice. She had no justifiable reason to dislike him, he'd saved Jemma's life and it wasn't like he seemed like a bad person or anything, but Skye just...she couldn’t help it. Even though Skye was fully aware that it was a mixture of jealousy and her own insecurities that made her want to dislike Will, she tried her best to control her external treatment of him while battling her little demons internally. "Yeah," Skye nodded. "I'll let you know in the morning, we could use some more people to bring back more next time," she conceded, trying to sound as relaxed and chill about the idea of being stuck wandering in a jungle all day with Spaceboy. She gingerly pulled the aloe plants, banana leaves and papaya leaves from her messenger bag and set them down in the sand then stood and hoisted the bag onto her shoulder. "I should go check in with Coulson and then see how Fitz is doing with grounding the fuselage," she pushed a small smile to her lips and glanced at Jemma. "Try not to sugar crash on those, yeah?" she lightly joked before she made her escape from the hospital area toward where Coulson was down the beach, helping Trip gut up the fish and shellfish they'd collected.

After she'd checked in with Fitz to find that he'd have the plane fuselage properly grounded in the morning, Skye had gone to talk with Coulson about the areas they'd explored on the jungle trek. Once all the food was cooked, Skye helped pass it out among the camp with use of some of the extra banana leaves they'd brought back to camp and had settled in with the others for a sort-of group meal. There were no crazy screeches from the jungle that night and Skye took a shift sleeping in the hospital shelter in case any of the injured needed anything in the night. She felt a bit more rested come the next morning thanks to actually filling her belly and being reasonably well hydrated. After getting some breakfast, Skye rounded up a new crew for the day's trek so they could bring more back than the day before's haul. Skye and Coulson went over the crudely drawn map she made the day before and told him which areas she wanted to branch out from after gathering some more of various fruits and plants. When all was said and done, she took a large machete knife with her from the knife box while their new additions, Kebo and Will were grabbing their own knives. She figured it would help with clearing the thicker vines and brush out of the way since they were going to try and venture further in today with their earlier start. They each had at least two full bottles of water. It was cooler than the beach in the jungle thanks to the tree shade but it was still a muggy mess and the mosquitos were a major pain in the ass today. "I'm just saying, mate," Hunter said as he and Mack were arguing about what they thought had made the noises that night. "We don't know where we are or if any humans have ever been here, have you never read a book, we could've stepped into The Lost World! - It could have easily been Godzilla!" He insisted. Mack let out a deep bellow of laughter as he walked behind Skye and Will. "And what was Godzilla fighting?" He asked. "What kinda question is that?" Hunter asked. "Dinosaurs, clearly!" Mack laughed, "Right, clearly," he shook his head. "Right then, what's your theory, let's have it?" Hunter bent by some small tree shoots and a rocks and pulled the floss container to get enough string to tie up a snare. "I think it was some kind of bird," Mack shrugged. "Birds make those kind of shrieks, right?" "Let's ask the Birds themselves," Hunter quipped as he finished the snare and stood up, brushed his hands off and looked between Skye and Yoyo, "Ladies," he grinned. "Do all Birds shriek?" Mack let out a groan and shook his head. Skye rolled her eyes but smirked. "About as much as British treasure hunters that step on seaweed..." She smirked over her shoulder at Hunter since he'd done just that earlier this morning.

"Unless you want whatever was screeching to come down on us, Godzilla or bird, you should lower your voices." Yoyo said quietly over her shoulder. This seemed to shut them up, at least temporarily. The men were apt to be more silly, except for Will and Kebo, who were walking in the back of the pack and just looking around them at all the thick foliage. They were the new additions to the crew and had yet to see everything hidden within the trees.

"Hunter, did you notice these?" Will spoke up. He'd wandered a few meters to the left of the group in the back and had his hands on his knees, bent over and looking at the patterns in the ground. There were tiny tracks, varying from an inch to three inches in length, spanning parallel to their own path and veering away up ahead. There were dozens of paths, meaning either it was very frequently traveled or there were a lot of them. Whatever they were it could prove to be a lot of food if they managed to find the little pack and killed them.

Skye chuckled at the sour, offended face Hunter made at her but. They both fell quiet at Yoyo's advice. Skye stopped hacking at the low hanging vines in front of her when Will spoke up. Hunter made his way back to look at the tracks Will picked up. "I saw some of them yesterday but they made so any circles back and forth, was damn near impossible to pin the buggers down for sure, mate," He said. "I left some snares near a couple patches of them." He took in their surroundings and oriented himself for a moment. "They should be a kilometer or so that way," he pointed off forward and over toward the group's lefthand side, which was where one set of the paths veered off toward ahead. "I think we've grabbed enough fruit and vegetation between us to bring back already, so, we should head that way to check your traps, see what else we can scare up on the way?" Skye arched her eyebrows and looked around to see if that seemed agreeable.

"I think that sounds like a good plan. Fruit is wonderful, but meat would pack more calories per pound." Yoyo added. They couldn't live off of fruit alone. "I'm not protesting." Will straightened up and stepped over the tracks. He didn't want to disturb them in case it would make the animals change paths.

"Right then," Hunter pointed again on which direction his snares were and Skye followed Mack carefully over the tracks. The group fell silent again, alternating between watching the tracks as they started for Hunter's snare traps and looking ahead to cut the overgrowth out of the way. They were about halfway toward the next set of traps when a round of high pitched squealing stopped them in their tracks. Skye was the first to move. The closer they crept toward the traps, the louder the sound. It wasn't at all loud enough to sound like the screeches they'd heard from the beach at night, but it was definitely the wild squeaking of a trapped animal. When the trap was within view, the group halted again. The snare trap had the small creature by the leg. It scurried back and forth furiously as far as the short rope would allow it. It was about a meter long and looked like a two-legged lizard with short arms, a long neck and a long tail. It whipped about wildly. "What the hell is it?" Hunter asked. "Is it some kind of weird mutant lizard?" Will asked. He wanted to say what he knew they were all thinking, but it sounded too ridiculous. Is it a tiny dinosaur?

Skye stepped closer, brushing off Mack's hand when he reached for her to stop her.  The little thing caught her scent on a breeze that blew through and the animal whipped around and froze. Skye stopped, just a few paces from it and crouched down to get a better look. The thing made a hissing sound and drew itself up as tall as it could make itself. It let out a few low whistle-like sounds and just a second later a large knife sailed past Skye's shoulder and head and nailed the animal right through its head, sending it and the knife sailing into the small tree trunk behind it, where the animal's body was pinned as the knife became imbedded. Skye fell back with a gasp, startled by the weapon that flew by her head. She turned to look at the group and saw Kebo, grinning like a moron, proud of his accomplishment and show of skill. Skye ground her teeth together and sprung to her feet. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" She screamed, stopped in her tracks toward Kebo only by Mack's very large free arm. "You could've fucking killed me!" she shouted, angry. Unfortunately she didn't hear the little sets of whistles from the surrounding area because of her racing pulse and her angry outburst. "Uh...guys..." Hunter slowly pulled his knife from its sheath and gripped the handle, backing away from the trap area.

"I think we found the animals who made those tracks..." Will trailed off. He had his knife at the ready out in front of him but had no way to tell which direction to point it. Little hisses and communicative squeaks and screeches came from all around them. "I feel like this is where the hunters become the hunted." Will joked. The moment he finished, one of the little reptiles launched from the bushes and latched onto his leg. Will yelped and the one attacking enticed them all to attack. It all happened in only a few moments. What seemed like at least fifty of them burst from the plants in all directions. Will stabbed down at the one on his leg and killed it, but immediately had to swipe at one that jumped on him in the next moment. He managed to get a few of them down before he heard an awful scream. It was human. He whirled around just in time to see the last bit of Kebo's skin covered by a reptile. It might have been a coincidence, but it felt like the little beasts were smart enough to know he was the one that killed their friend. It hardly took any time at all for Kebo's screams to stop altogether as he fell to the ground and Will's eyes widened. He was dead. "RUN!" He shouted. He knew Skye was usually in charge but she wasn't in his immediate eyesight and he wasn't 100% sure who was alive.

Skye and Mack jumped apart as the attack began. They tried to stay back to back with Hunter and Yoyo but there were so many at first. The little fuckers were fast! And they fucking bit hard! One of them got her in the shoulder before she staggered and slammed it (and her shoulder) hard against a tree to her left. It yelped and ran back into the foliage. She had just broken one's neck with a swing of the machete when she spotted Kebo being swarmed. She turned to run. "Back to camp!" She called to Mack, Yoyo and Hunter, trusting they could angle themselves in the right direction, unlike Will who had wheeled too far and went the wrong way. "We'll catch up!" Skye raced after him, preferring not to look back as she ran, heart pounding, pain searing through her left shoulder. Skye was a runner. She was fast and she knew it was a source of pride for her. You didn't have to worry about winning a fight if you could escape before the fight began. But these freaking...whatever they were (they were not tiny dinosaurs - there was no way!), were fucking fast. "Spaceman!" She called out as she caught up to Will. "You're going the wrong way!" A sharp dig of pain pierced the back of her shoulder as one of the stray ones jumped from a tree trunk and dug its claws into her shoulder blade. Skye didn't stop running, but she stumbled and gasped in pain as it bit into the top of her shoulder. She swung the machete up, turning it flat so that if she missed she would only whack her shoulder with the flat of the blade. She hit it in the head and it let go and fell back but it's feet still clutched into her flesh to hold on. It clawed its way back up and dove for another bite, angling for Skye's neck. She lurched and tried to swing. It scraped her ear with its teeth just before she hit it again with the side of the blade. She caught up to Will just as one of the animals took a flying leap and caught him with its feet and teeth sinking into Will’s hip and side.

"Shit!" Will cursed and twisted so he slammed the little stinging beast into a tree trunk. He heard Skye shouting for him and turned around when the reptile fell off of him. He reached down grabbed it by the head, and snapped its neck to make sure it wouldn't be waking up again before he swung his backpack around to one side and stuffed it in the biggest pocket. "Lead the way!" He shouted and started running again to follow after Skye.

Skye skidded to a stop. She heard rustling behind her and turned in time to see one of the little bastards running right for her. It took a leap and Skye had just enough time to swing her machete reflexively almost like a baseball bat. It sailed a few feet and landed in the grass. Skye spotted Will tossing one of them in his pack. She crouched and twisted the neck of the one at her feet and managed to wedge it into her messenger bag and still got the clasps shut, though the tail stuck out from the side of the bag. She set the bag at her back just as Will came running her way so she grabbed up her machete and took to running again. It took some time but they caught up to Mack, Yoyo and Hunter about ten minutes later in a clearing they’d stopped to catch their breath.

“It was like they knew he was the one that killed it!” Hunter rasped between gulps of air. At his feet lay two of the animals, one stabbed through the middle, the other missing a head. Mack was shaking one off of the pointed side of his ax.

“Anyone else get a full bite?” Mack set his ax to his shoulder with one hand and the other poked at his forearm as his hand adjusted grip on the ax handle. “Think they have some kind of...venom?” He frowned. “Or did it hit a nerve…” He wondered.

Skye was too amped up to really tell if her bites were numb. They burned a bit but she was extremely sweaty and she was sure the salty beads of it were hitting every bit of the little bites. It felt like the bites went pretty deep as well. “We should load those into the packs and get back to camp,” She said as she caught her breath. If there was some kind of venom to their bites, Jemma might be able to tell from the bodies, right? She hoped so at least.

"Well what are you?" Jemma frowned when she found herself face to face with the bird. The plants she'd been picking at the treeline were still in her hand and, very slowly, she tucked them into her messenger bag and the notebook Skye gave her to catalogue hospital inventory came out in their place. She began sketching the bird as quickly as possible while she was still holding its interest. It wasn't much bigger than a chicken, but it was lankier and had a longer, thicker beak, probably just as wide around as its head. It was definitely flightless, by the size of its wings and the fact that it was walking around and not flying away when Jemma whistled at it. It made a small squawking noise and waddled further into the trees. Jemma folded the notebook back so it was more like a tablet and continued drawing it while she walked after it. She glanced over her shoulder every now and then to make sure she could still see the break in the trees where the beach was. The little bird picked up the pace, aware Jemma was chasing it, and made little squawks as it went. Jemma jogged after it and scooped it up, grabbing its beak between two fingers so it couldn't bite her. A screech ripped through the trees and Jemma startled so badly she dropped the bird. It scuttled off into the underbrush and Jemma was still frozen. She recognized that sound. It was whatever had been fighting the night it rained. Ice cold fear ran through her veins and she didn't know if it would be better to stay still or run. She heard rustling behind her and slowly turned her head. "Wha-" Jemma didn't even finish the word, her mouth was hanging open. Whatever she'd just caught was clearly a juvenile because there was a massive version, at least two feet taller than her, staring at her with the evil eye. It's beak looked big enough to snap her spine in half and its talons could gut her. Hello, Mom, Jemma said in her head. She wanted to wait to see if it would leave her alone now that she dropped the baby, but she had no such luck. It screeched again and charged her and Jemma turned and made a run for it and let out the terrified scream she'd been holding in. She heard it pounding behind her as she sprinted and branches whipped her in the face. It was faster and more adapted to running about in the jungle and there was no way she'd outrun it. But it couldn't fly. Jemma reached for the first thick low branch she found and grabbed onto it with both hands. She used the one skill she'd learned from gymnastics in elementary school and pulled then pushed up so her hips tapped the branch, and she swung one leg over it. The bird was on her tail and Jemma quickly climbed to the next branch three feet higher, but was horrified to realize she'd chosen what seemed like the shortest tree in the jungle. All the thin branches above her snapped when she put any weight on them and the massive bird was already upon her, reaching up with its long neck and snapping. She just barely wasn't out of reach when the birds hopped and she had to hop out of the way herself. Her back slammed into the trunk and two more birds came from different directions. "Shit!" Jemma kicked at the face of one who got to close and it screeched at her again in anger. They kept snapping and Jemma kept kicking. The tallest one got uncomfortably close on a lunge and Jemma slammed her foot down, but it had learned from the last time and had its mouth open. It snapped down at her leg and Jemma shrieked. She jerked her leg out in time to not have her bones shattered, but the hooked tip of the beak dug into her pants and Jemma knew it had gotten her skin. The calf of her jeans came off along with her shoe and exposed a slice down her shin at immediately started bleeding. It was deep and long and Jemma cried out and retreated even further against the trunk. They kept snapping and Jemma was afraid she'd gotten herself killed by following a chicken. She couldn't kick them to death that was for sure.

Skye, Will and the rest of the crew were just finishing catching their breath and packing up the last of the dead animals when the screeching sound made them all freeze. It was followed, this time, by a very human sounding scream. Skye’s eyes widened as she wheeled in the direction it came from. She recognized that voice - that was definitely Jemma. That was Jemma screaming between the screeching sounds of whatever they’d heard in the jungle the other night. “Jemma!”  The name was off her tongue as Skye moved to start running and Mack threw his arm out to stop her, just barely managing to catch her by the strap of her bag to drag her to a halt.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Skye spun on Mack and swung a fist at his arm but Mack tightened his grip and pulled her back. “Mack, let me go, it’s Jemma!”

“Skye, stop!” Mack shouted. “Listen!” He ordered right before a number of screeches rang out. “There’s more than one of whatever it is - you can’t run right into them by yourself.”

Another one of Jemma’s shrieks rang out and Skye struggled against Mack’s grip. “She needs help!”

“And we’ll get to her but we can’t be stupid about it,” Mack frowned. He let Skye go and then started giving out instructions for making their way to the sounds and surrounding it before they attacked. The absolute hardest thing Skye had to do was force herself not to run directly for the sounds of Jemma screaming and the shrieking...whateverthefuck that were likely attacking her. The whole time she battled against whether or not she wanted Jemma to keep screaming. The more Jemma screamed, the longer they knew she was alive. Every time she stopped and it was only the screeching animals, Skye panicked that Jemma was dead and had to fight the impulse to run.

When they finally reached the spot, Mack silently spread them out. There were three of the birds in total. Skye bit her tongue to force herself not to call out to Jemma. Mack, and Yoyo angled for the one closest to them, Hunter and Will took the one on the other side and when Mack signaled, they lunged.

Jemma shrieked again when more beings charged onto the scene and it took her a moment to realize they were people- Skye- and not more birds.

Skye raced to the third one and swung her machete with both hands as hard as she possible could just as it was lunging for Jemma’s legs again. The machete connected and dug in deep and Skye barely had enough time to yank it free and back a few steps away as the gigantic bird staggered and wheeled on her. That was when she really got to see its actual size. It charged her and Skye nearly tripped on a raised tree root as she dove to the side and took another swing with the machete, which thankfully collided.

Unfortunately, the large knife embedded into the bird’s head this time and it staggered out of reach before Skye could grab it, screeching wildly. He turned to race back at her and Skye, who had fallen back on that tree root, scrambled back, trying to find purchase to pull herself to her feet, and failing. The giant bird lunged at her with snapping jaws as her back hit the trunk of the tree Jemma was in and only missed because the one Mack and Yoyo were fighting ran off into the trees and Mack had managed to swing his ax around and took the thing’s head the rest of the way off. Its body fell on Skye’s shins, still twitching as Skye scrambled out from under it to get to her feet. Will and Hunter lost the other bird as Skye looked breathlessly upward into the tree.

“Jem!” She felt both relieved and immediately worried about Jemma when she finally got a good looked at her - stuck up in a too short tree, her leg bleeding and freaked out. Skye’s own eyes were pretty wide in terror. They’d just watched Kebo get eaten by little mutant lizards and now Jemma had almost been eaten by gigantic fucking…turkeys or something. “Are you alright?” She asked as she reached up to try and help her down.

Jemma stared down at the hand Skye was offering but couldn't get herself to move. Her fingertips were dug into the bark at her back, her chest was heaving, and her eyes were dilated almost to her irises. Her leg was stinging more now that she wasn't ignoring it in favor of kicking at the birds, but she still couldn't get herself to get down out of the tree. It isn't safe! her brain warned her.

Skye could see how shaken up Jemma was - who wouldn’t be?? Hell, the hand she was holding out to Jemma was actually trembling a good deal thanks to the deadly combo of adrenaline, fear of Jemma’s well being and nearly dying under attack of both a bunch of mutant lizards and giant turkeys in one afternoon. Her eyes strayed over Jemma’s injured leg. “Jemma,” Skye said her name again, hoping to snap her out of the abject terror she was in up in that tree. “Jemma, it’s okay now,” She assured. “We just need you to come down and then we’ll take you back to camp. ” She hesitated a moment, steadied her own hand and locked her gaze on Jemma’s terrified gaze. “Jem...I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.” Anything else at least. She couldn’t do anything about the injury Jemma already had, other than help her stitch it up if it needed it when they were back at camp. She wanted to climb up into the tree to reassure her but she wasn’t sure the branches would support both their weight combined.

Jemma's pulse slowly steadied to somewhere near normal and her tight grip on the tree slowly lessened until she let go completely. "Okay." She nodded. She cringed as she sat down on the high branch and let her legs hang over and touch the lower one. She reached out with a trembling hand and clutched Skye's fingers. It was maybe a four foot drop and she was afraid to try it with her injured leg.   

Skye smiled. “Good,” she said when Jemma moved down to the lower branch. She tried not to rush her but at the same time she wanted to get Jemma back to camp as soon as possible. She put her free hand on Jemma’s thigh of her uninjured leg and gave it a gentle squeeze. Behind her, Mack, Hunter and Yoyo were discussing the logistics of getting the dead bird to the beach to butcher it for food.

Skye waited a minute or two before she asked, “Would you be okay with letting me wrap my shirt around your leg til we get you back to camp?” It was bleeding pretty good and it would likely bleed more once they got her to the ground. “After that, we’ll get you down and get you back to the beach...alright?” She wanted to rush Jemma back, but she didn’t want to force her since she was so scared. It was a terrible tug of war inside Skye’s head.

Jemma took a deep breath and glanced down at her leg. She wasn't sure what it needed, but Skye was probably right in covering it and it would be easier for her to wrap it up when her shins were at Skye's chest level. She nodded and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see it because she didn't want to need any more stitches. "Those things shouldn't- they don't- exist." Jemma said quietly. It wasn't real, it couldn't be. It was hard to distinguish it as anything other than a giant monster when it was chasing her, but now she knew. They weren't anything that should be alive today.

Skye unbuttoned her over shirt. She made sure the tank underneath covered the gun back there and shifted her messenger bag to make sure it rested at her back after she tugged her shirt off her arms. She folded and rolled her shirt until she could lay it over Jemma’s shin and then wrapped the sleeves around the back, crossed them and pulled it to the front. She arched her eyebrows and glanced up at Jemma. “What?” She asked. Looking back down, she added. “This is gonna hurt, sorry,” She said before she tightly tied the sleeves and double knotted it. When she was finished, she reached up and set her hands on the outsides of Jemma’s thighs, hoping in another moment or so she could catch her by the waist and help her down. “What do you mean they don’t exist?” She asked. That thing definitely existed, in the flesh, now lying on the jungle floor.

Jemma hissed when Skye tied the shirt and reflexively jerked her leg up a bit, but she relaxed again after a moment. Jemma knew what she meant, but she found it was difficult to put it into words that were believable. "I- When I was ten, I went through a dinosaur phase." A dinosaur phase was an understatement. For a whole year her room had been full of dinosaurs and she carried a dinosaur encyclopedia everywhere she went. She was an information sponge at that point and dinosaurs were the topic she settled on. "They're not from today. They're prehistoric." Jemma couldn't make eye contact. She felt like she was lying even though she wasn't. “Phorusrhacids." It was all coming back to her.

Skye’s eyebrows hiked higher up her forehead. Jemma went through a dinosaur phase. Skye would file that one away for future reference for sure. She tried to focus rather than trying to imagine little ten year old Jemma at a museum geeking out over giant dinosaur skeletons. Focus. This was serious time, not imagine adorable Jemma time. Right. Skye glanced over her shoulder at the giant turkey ostrich. Her head whipped back around, brow furrowed. She was about to ask another helpful, ‘what?’ when Jemma let out a scientific sounding name for the thing that was dead on the ground. She hesitated. “...You’re saying...it’s a dinosaur?” she asked, just to make sure she was hearing this correctly.

"Not a dinosaur, exactly, in sense of the word." Jemma was beginning to ramble uncomfortably in an attempt to deal with her own discovery. "They aren't reptiles, but... they're from the Cenozoic era." Jemma was impressed at her own memory. She knew she had an eidetic memory, but still, it was a stretch. It was as if the encounter brought it all back.

Skye tried to process all of that. “Uh huh…” Her brow creased again and she looked over at the thing on the ground again. Her head turned back and she looked at Jemma’s face as she started talking again. "This island predates our time. It's discovery would be world news, yet it hasn't been. It's impossible to have an undiscovered island like this with such advanced satellites..." Jemma's mind was running away from her. Nobody knew the island existed, so there wouldn't be a rescue team on the beach. Jemma refused to truly accept it just yet so she moved automatically, reaching and leaning so she could grab onto Skye's shoulders to prepare to get down. "Help me?" Her voice was small.

Skye’s eyebrows were up her forehead once again, still trying to wrap her head around all of it. “Whoa, slow down there a sec, Doc-,” Skye began to say. Skye clenched her jaw and stifled a grunt when Jemma’s hands hit her shoulders, the left one still tender from the bite she sustained in her first major animal attack of the day. Her hands, however, automatically went to Jemma’s hips, to steady her. She nodded. “Of course,” She shifted and stepped back so she could ease Jemma down, careful to keep a firm grip on her so she wouldn’t have to put weight on her injured leg.

Jemma was willing to lay the issue to rest until they got back to camp, where she could rationally sort through everything in her head before she started rambling again. She put the dinosaurs in a box on the top shelf to be opened later. Now they just needed to get back. She tried to get off the branch as gently as possible, and Skye's support helped, but her balance was off because she tried to only land on her left leg, but she staggered to the right. "Easy," another voice said and Jemma felt a new hand on her, wrapped around her right upper arm to prevent the fall. She looked up and was relieved to see Will alive as well. She glanced around and noted that everyone seemed to be in a state of duress, and splotches of blood seemed to dot all over them, Skye included. Her brows furrowed and she frowned, but she forced herself to shove the unasked question into another box until they got back.

The last thing Skye felt like thinking about was Will’s proximity to Jemma. It was childish. Jemma was injured and scared. The goal was to get her out of the jungle and back to camp. There were secondary goals, but getting Jemma back safely was the main goal. Skye knew she couldn’t carry Jemma back to camp just then, much as she would have wanted to. So, she looked across Jemma over to Will. “Are you able to lift her?” She asked. Normally, yes she was aware Will could lift Jemma. “Without throwing her over your shoulder this time?” But he’d suffered a few bites of his own and she wanted to make sure he’d be up to the task. It would get Jemma back faster. That was the goal, right?

"I got it." Will nodded. He was stinging in several places, but he was sure not as much as Jemma's leg. The blood was starting to dot Skye's shirt and he knew it would bleed even more if she walked on it. "It's not that bad, I can walk." Jemma argued. She didn't want to be a burden. She had wandered in here all on her own and she didn't think she'd be able to look any of them in the eye after they risked their lives for her if she didn't walk out on her own too. She moved to take a step and even with two people holding onto her, the right leg gave out. Will grabbed onto her and before she could protest again, he pulled her arm over his shoulders and scooped her up with an arm around her lower back and another under her legs. "Let's just get you back." Will shifted Jemma's weight and looked to Skye for directions.

Skye’s eyes followed Jemma the whole way. Will had her up in his arms before even Skye could fully react to catch Jemma’s stumble. Skye nodded. She turned toward the others. “Ready to go?” She asked.

Mack and Hunter exchanged a glance. They both shook their heads. “We’re gonna hang back, Boss,” Mack said. “When you get back, Yoyo’s going to grab a few spare hands and we’re going to lug this thing to the beach-,”

“No use wasting a good meal, yeah?” Hunter added.

Skye hesitated. She looked between them both. “You’re sure?” She asked as she gathered the machete. Both nodded. Skye felt reluctant to leave them behind but, they seemed insistent. Skye glanced to Yoyo and then turned to Will and Jemma. “Alright, let’s go,” She took a quick moment to orient herself to the right direction and then stepped over to lead the way out. “So Jem,” She said as she walked. “What do they call these things in normal, non-science terms?” she asked as they walked, hoping to distract Jemma at least a little bit by making her ramble about things.

Jemma started out tense in Will's arms when they began the short trek back, but when she realized it was probably harder to carry her this way, she relaxed some and felt Will squeeze her a bit for reassurance. She hadn't followed the juvenile bird very far before her sprint so it would be no more than a ten minute walk. "The paleontologists who studied them liked to call them terror birds for short." Jemma replied. She had to admit there wasn't too much else she remembered about them, but what else did they need to know besides the fact that they were supposed to be extinct, that they're giant, and- "They're also carnivores. Apparently they hunt in flocks." Jemma leaned her head against Will's shoulder and tried not to think about how close she'd been to losing a leg to one of them.

"Terror birds," Skye shook her head. "How appropriate," she glanced back and spotted Jemma with her head on Will's shoulder and quickly turned back around. It was hard to describe the feeling that sprouted in her chest, but Skye did her best to ignore it and stay on target. Get Jemma to camp, possibly stitch Jemma up, tell her about the crazy lizards. "We ran into our own set of apparent pack hunters," She called back to Jemma. "Much smaller than terror birds. I'll show em to ya once you're all patched up," she said.

Dots were starting to connect in Jemma's head. It wouldn't have made sense that everyone was bleeding in little spots because of branches and plants, but now Jemma's eyes widened. Skye was walking in front of them and Jemma could see now that the back of her shoulder and some of her back was bleeding. Without her over shirt on, the only thing blocking her view was Skye's hair, which didn't cover it completely. "Are you ok?" She asked. Her eyes scanned all over her body, but they wound up on her bag. The lizard looking tail was still sticking out and Jemma had a strong urge to jump out of Will's arms and see it right now. There was a dinosaur in Skye's bag. A dinosaur. "Most of us were bitten, but Kebo..." Will answered for her. "He didn't make it."

Skye still didn't want to refer to it as a dinosaur even as it was looking wayyy more plausible since Jemma's terror bird revelation. They crashed on a deserted island and a tiny dinosaurs tried to eat her and now she was carrying it in her bag back to the beach camp that was their home for the foreseeable future. Well, she thought, at least we'll make a ton of money on the book royalties when we get back. Skye frowned partially since Will answered for her, partially because Kebo didn't make it. Kebo had been a colossal idiot right before it happened, but that didn't mean he deserved to die. "Kebo aside, we're okay," she assured. "They were small bites. Hunter caught one of them in a snare. Kebo killed it when we got close and they swarmed us," she explained, not to upset Jemma but since she knew Jemma would be more upset being left in the dark. "Then we heard you," Despite the heat, a shiver rolled through Skye's spine as she thought about the sounds of Jemma’s screams.

"I still want to take a look at all of you when we get back." Jemma looked between Skye, Will, and Yoyo, trying to foresee any and all injuries. The rest of the walk was quiet. Jemma could tell Will was getting tired and Jemma was surprised she could ever be so happy to see the sand. They were trapped on it and at first Jemma hated it, but that was before she found out how much worse the jungle was. "You can put me down now." Jemma tapped Will's shoulder when they got back to the hospital tent. May and the few others looked at them curiously, but didn't say anything. Fitz was a different story. "What the hell happened?" He was shouting, mostly at Skye. He ran to Jemma and helped Will ease her into the sand without letting her leg touch the sand. They'd heard her screams, but Coulson hadn't allowed anyone else to go into the jungle since only Skye and her group knew what was what. "Where is everyone?" Fitz was panicking.

By the time they made it to the beach, after all the hiking, all the fruit picking, all the running and fighting, the animal bites...Skye was so tired she hadn’t considered what the others heard from the beach and she definitely wasn’t prepared for Fitz to look directly at her and basically accuse her of causing Jemma’s injury. As soon as he said it, the wheels in Skye’s mind shifted back to the airplane after the crash and those fifteen seconds between when Jemma stopped breathing and when the seat belt finally broke free.

“Mack and Hunter are still in the jungle,” Skye said. She turned to Yoyo. “Let Coulson know what happened, see who he can spare to go back with you to get it?” She waited only long enough for Yoyo to nod and then turned back to Fitz. “Kebo was eaten by a pack of what I’m pretty sure Jemma’s gonna tell us are mini-dinosaurs and Jemma…” Skye looked over at Jemma, her brow furrowed. “I’m not exactly sure what Jemma was doing in the jungle, actually...we heard her screaming and ran to find her while giant prehistoric turkeys were trying to eat her after running her up a tree...” She didn’t need to explain herself to Fitz. She really, really fucking didn’t. But she explained it anyway and part of her hoped it overloaded his brain and made him pass out so she wouldn’t have to listen to his shrill panic attacks. Part of Skye wished she had less mental fortitude so she could just positively freak the fuck out the way Fitz did all the time rather than burying her fear and anxiety as deep as it would go in order to continue processing situations as they hit them.

Skye walked away from Fitz and found a blanket to lay down in the sand. “Why don’t you set a spell? We’ll clean that off,” she nodded to Jemma’s leg, “and you can tell me if it’s gonna need stitches,” She was pretty sure it might with the way she was bleeding through layers of Skye’s shirt. Skye pulled her bag off her shoulders with a stifled grunt of pain stemming from both the stitches in her side and the bites on her shoulder, shoulder blade, ear and the back part of her jaw. She set the bag down and grabbed the first aid kit.

Fitz just stood there with his mouth hanging open and Jemma needed him to stop freaking out. Blaming Skye made her angry with him and she didn't know why he took a disliking to her. "Fitz, go get some water." She snapped at him. It took a moment, but he turned around and headed for the water trough. "I'm sorry. He's terrible when he's panicky." Jemma looked up at Skye. She had put up with a lot of people's reactions to the situation, but her external confidence hadn't wavered much at all until now. Jemma could see in her eyes that Skye was believing what Fitz was accusing her of. "I was the one who wandered into the jungle like an idiot." Jemma added. She winced as she peeled the ruined shirt from her leg and gave Skye another apologetic glance. She was going to run out of clothes at this rate.

Skye tried to settle her thoughts so she could focus on Jemma’s injury rather than her own feelings about Fitz’s shouting and blaming her. “What were you doing in there, anyway?” She asked while she opened the first aid kit. Was there something else Jemma needed that Skye hadn’t found yet? Had she taken too long to get back with the various plants and such for Jemma to use that made her go wandering? Either way, she wished Jemma hadn’t gone wandering, but at least the jungle trek crew had been close enough to get to her when she’d been cornered. She took her bloody shirt from Jemma and, while they waited for him to return with the water, she used it to try and wipe some of the excess blood off of the areas around the wound. She grimaced a bit at the look of it, unsure if it was bleeding so much because of how deep it was or because this was another one of those areas of shallow skin that appeared to bleed worse like head wounds.

"I was looking for useful plants at the treeline and saw what I now know was a terror bird hatchling." Jemma slid the notebook from her messenger bag and opened it to the drawing she made. She handed it to Skye and once her hands were free she busied herself with the first aid kit. She was embarrassed she'd lacked such basic common sense and got herself hurt. Next time she might not be so lucky.

Skye’s eyebrows hiked up her forehead as she looked at the notebook Jemma handed her. For a very brief moment, Skye wondered if it was normal for scientists to be decent artists for sketching/drawing. “Jemma,” Her name came out of Skye’s mouth in a scold before she could stop it. She sighed as she looked over at Jemma, her shoulders dropping slightly. “You followed an animal off into the jungle...and you get mad at me for going for a swim, really?” She was only half scolding her, really. Skye probably would have done the same in such a situation, though she wouldn’t have had the foresight to try and draw a picture of it and even if she did, it would have been a terrible attempt. Skye frowned. She sat back against her heels and looked down at the drawing again.

She cleared her throat and kept her eyes down on Jemma’s drawing. “We’d just met back up after running away from the pack of...whatever they were we ran into,” she handed the book back to Jemma. “When I realized it was you screaming-,” Skye never got to finish the sentence since Fitz came bursting back into their personal space with a couple bottles of water. Skye, instead, took one of them so she could use it to start cleaning off Jemma’s leg instead.

"Are there really dinosaurs in there?" Fitz knelt beside Jemma and picked up the sketch Jemma had been showing Skye. He studied it for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his head. "Those are terror birds!" He exclaimed. Jemma quirked an eyebrow at him and he elaborated, "I play a lot of ark. The video game." He explained. "So you're telling me there are real, live terror birds? Were those the screeches?" Fitz was going fast, trying to comprehend like the rest of them. It wasn't something easily taken in. "We'll talk about it with the whole camp later so we don't have to tell the story forty times. For now we need to take care of wounds." Jemma quipped at him. "Is it still bleeding?" Jemma frowned and looked around her knee to see her leg. The blood was still wet, but she didn't know if it was because it was fresh or because Skye was rinsing it off.

Skye lapsed into silence and dealt with her own thoughts while she let Fitz and Jemma talk. She was sure Jemma was going to lose her scientist mind when she saw the thing in her bag. But that could wait. “It looks like it’s still going just a little bit now,” She took out a mini-bottle of vodka that must have come from the plane and had been shoved into the kit and glanced at Jemma. “Do you want to stitch it, or should I?” She asked as she rifled through and grabbed the suture kit from the first aid bag with her free hand.

"Would you mind?" Jemma asked. Her face was contorted in anticipation. She had to use her logical mind for this part. She didn't want to go through it again, but she knew she needed to. She didn't want to make Skye do it, but she was certain she wouldn't be able to do it herself. It was pretty long, spanning from about eight inches below her knee to her ankle, where the bird had gotten her shoe instead, leaving her only in a blood sock. She slowly and carefully unrolled it to get it off her foot. "It's going to be a lot of stitches..." Jemma groaned. She sighed when she saw the alcohol in Skye's hand and knew this was going to hurt a lot and she would have to sit still for a while to help along the healing process.

Skye gave Jemma a look. Of course she wouldn’t mind. She did move to sit on the edge of the blanket, cross legged, however and gingerly picked up Jemma’s leg after she pulled the sock off. She set the limb down in her lap and put the kit and the bottle down on the other half of her lap. She set up the thread and needle first then looked at Fitz. “Put that down and hold her hand,” she nodded toward Jemma after frowning at the notebook he was still studying. She waited for Fitz to comply while she used some of the water off to the side of them to wash off her hands. She dumped a bit of the alcohol onto her hands and rubbed them together and then she looked at Jemma. “Sorry about this,” She said, before she dumped the rest of the bottle on the wound to kill off whatever germs she could. She flinched in sympathy and then began the slow process of stitching Jemma up. She was a bit better at it this time, quicker with the knots and also better at grouping them together so they weren’t as far apart since she had the light to view it properly, unlike when she had to do Jemma’s forehead.

“So, you had a dinosaur phase, huh?” Skye asked without looking away from Jemma’s leg while she sewed. “Bet your parents loved that - please tell me little ten year old you dug up your backyard looking for fossils or something,” She tried her best to distract Jemma though she figured there wasn’t really a way to keep her from feeling the pain. She figured she would try, a least.

"That is actually spot on." Jemma chuckled, but it was cut off half way by a flinch. Fitz squeezed her hand and Jemma let out a shaky breath. Only two finished, and a whole half a calf to go. She wasn't going to openly say it to Skye and Fitz, but she was worried. Even with the alcohol, the chances of these things getting infected was a thousand times higher. She would have to be diligent about keeping it covered and out of the sand, just like her patients, but it was harder when she'd still need to get around. So she let herself be distracted from being stuck on an island by talking about her nerdy childhood. "My dream was to unearth a dinosaur skeleton, and I was convinced it would happen in my backyard." She laughed. "Drove my parents bonkers."

Skye chuckled between stitches so she didn’t tug anything unnecessarily. “Sounds like a missed opportunity for them - I’d have bought some dinosaur toys to bury through the yard while you were at school,” She smirked. She went on to the next stitch and tried not to think about infection possibilities. Surely some of the plants she’d gathered for Jemma could help with that, right? Skye hoped so anyway. “What was your favorite dinosaur?” she asked.

"That would have been cute." Jemma chuckled at Skye. She had a kind heart and Jemma would have loved to meet her before survival skills were a necessity. "And it's a Troodon; they're the smartest." Jemma said this like it was obvious there was no possible answer. She found herself using the present tense, and Jemma realized it was crazy, but also now possible, so she was leaving her mind open.

Skye snickered softly. “So it’s the Jemma of the dinosaur world, huh?” She joked without looking away from the task at hand. Looking for more to discuss, Jemma thought about little things she could share with Skye and when she remembered, her cheeks flushed. "If we get off this island you're never to tell anyone," Jemma looked both Fitz and Skye in the eye as her grin spread. "I may or may not have dissected a few lizards."

Skye listened to Jemma’s shared tidbit of information while she worked and couldn’t help but smile about it. “I’ll take it to the grave, Doc,” She promised. She tried to think of something, anything really, from her childhood she could have offered in return. She came up with much less that would be suitable for this conversation than she would have liked. “What changed?” she asked instead. “That turned you away from dinosaurs, I mean,” She kept working. They were closer together than the ones on Jemma’s face so there were more of them to do but Skye worked as meticulously as possible while trying not to hurt Jemma too much.

Jemma bit the inside of her cheek and held back tears at a particularly painful stitch in the middle that pulled her skin back together. She continued indulging in the talk about her childhood because anything was better than thinking about having her leg sewn up on a beach. "I suppose as I got older I was encouraged to grow out of it. The kids at school and my parents thought dinosaurs could only be a stage of childhood." Jemma shrugged. She wondered if in some parallel universe she could have ended up being a paleontologist.

“Bummer,” Skye tried not to let it bother her whenever Jemma made any sounds as she worked. It couldn’t be helped. All she could do was keep working and get the job done. “I mean, you’re clearly a genius so you still got to get your science on with all your degrees and stuff,” She rambled a bit. “But bummer that they stifled your badass fossil hunter vibe,” She was just a little tiny bit over halfway done. “Do you have any siblings? Were they ever dino hunting partners?”

"Only child." Jemma grunted and kept her eyes up on Skye's face instead of her leg. She appreciated how hard she was working to help her and Jemma would be giving her a good round of twenty questions for herself later. "I think my parents were content with one well behaved, quiet child." Jemma chuckled. Her parents hadn't been rude or mean, but they never put up with any mess or excessive noise. She didn't know why they had a child in the first place. They just got lucky she was happier to read books and study things than play sports. They had thrown a fit over the disemboweled lizard on the kitchen table.

“One well behaved, quiet child that excavated their backyard,” Skye grinned and worked her way through a few more stitches. Now that she was in a groove, they moved a bit faster though she was still careful not to tug too hard or be rough about it. "Is it almost done?" Jemma huffed, but refused to look at her leg.

“Just about...mmm…” Skye glanced at her finished work and the rest of the wound right before she started the next stitch. “Three more after this,” She told Jemma. She fell quiet after that and concentrated on finishing the last of them. When they were all tied off, she cut the excess thread and set the suture kit tools aside. She pulled out a pre-moistened wet wipe that was soaked with alcohol, murmured a quick apology and, as gently as she could while still making use of the little towel, she wiped off the stitched wound and the areas directly surrounding it. When that was done, she cut a strip of gauze and taped it over the stitches. Skye went the extra step of grabbing one of the rolls of gauze from the kit, she wound it around Jemm’s leg to double up on covering the wound and then taped it off firmly so it would all stay in place. “Okay,” She said, digging through the kit until she found the aspirin bottle. She shook two out and handed them over to Jemma. “All set.”

"At this rate we're going to run out of thread." Jemma sighed and took a look at her leg. She lost the bottom part of her pants leg and along with having no shoe, she was pretty pathetic looking. "I'm alright Fitz, go ask Coulson to set up a meeting for about an hour from now." Jemma shooed him away. By the end he was more pale than she was and he wasn't much of a help. He got up and did as Jemma said. She needed some time to calm down and then talk with the others about what to say. Jemma took a swig of her water with the aspirin and let the next mouthful go down slowly. They weren't in dire need of more, but she still wasn't about to go wasting it. "Thank you for saving my life. Again." Jemma fidgeted with the strings on the end of her ripped jeans before she looked Skye in the face. She felt like an idiot and she knew she was the one who put Skye in danger, not the other way around.

“Don’t mention it,” Skye ducked her eyes and busied herself with cleaning off the tools from the suture kit with the still wet wipe from the first aid kit and then tucked everything back into the kit. She wanted to try and explain to Jemma why it was important to her that nothing happened to Jemma - not because she was a doctor, which was important, but because of whatever connection it was they’d forged in those first hours together in the airport and on the plane, and in the small moments since then too. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to explain it and she wasn’t sure it would even make sense outside her head. “You can raid my suitcase, if you want,” she nodded to Jemma’s frayed pant leg. “For some pants? They might be loose, but,” She shrugged and cleared her throat. “When the others get back with that carcass, we can probably find your shoe,” She grimaced as she thought about how gross the thing would be. “Or I can check Coulson’s stash and see if they have anything in your size?” she offered, forgetting for a second about the dinosaur body in her bag and the fact that she’d been bitten more than once by the thing. Her own wounds had been everywhere but on her mind since she’d been focusing on the stitches and all.

"We can do that later, I still need to check on your wounds." Jemma pat the towel in front of her and gestured for her to move over. There was no way Skye was getting away without being taken care of herself. "I'll check out your new wounds and then I should check on your stitches. They might be able to come out." Jemma explained.

Skye moved and sat on the blanket so her left side was facing Jemma to let her have access to see the top and back of her shoulder and the side of her face. There was a bite on the back of her left shoulder, a deeper bite in the top of her left shoulder, some fairly deep claw marks in the back of her shoulder blade, and the bottom of her earlobe and back of her jaw were scratched up pretty well too. “They’re just scratches, Jem, really.” The bite on the top of her shoulder might have been a bit more than a scratch, same went for the claw marks dug into her shoulder blade. Jemma was right, though, they were going to run out of thread if they kept stitching things and Skye didn’t want Jemma to waste any on her.

"Some of them aren't just scratches." Jemma's brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to eliminate the ones that really were just scratches. The one on the back of her shoulder looked like it hurt, but it would heal on its own, but the one on top needed something by the way it was bleeding. She pulled the tank down from Skye's shoulder to reveal the scratches. One was deeper than the other and Jemma could get away with only stitching the deeper one. The bite however would be difficult to take care of. It was several thin, but deep punctures and there was no way she'd be able to suture it. "You're not going to like this..." Jemma sighed and squeezed Skye's arm. "One of the scratches does need a stitch or two. I can't stitch the bite but it's bleeding enough that I need to seal it. Cauterization seems like the best option." Jemma tried to say it softly but she knew it wasn't an appealing idea. "It would be less painful than stitches though and it'll only last a second."

Skye bit into the corner of her bottom lip as Jemma moved her shirt and looked over the wounds. She tried not to move at all and did her best to keep her muscles from flinching too much. She braced herself as Jemma gave her the rundown. She took a deep breath and exhaled a sigh at the prognosis as she hung her head forward a moment. “Okay…” she nodded, trying to resign herself to the pain that would be involved in cauterizing the bite. “Okay...I’ll get some fire if you want to set up the needle and thread?” She asked.

"I'm sorry." Jemma gave Skye's arm another squeeze before she got up to start a fire. Jemma prepared the needle, making sure she cleaned it twice just to make sure they weren't sharing any blood. She set it aside since the bite should be taken care of while the stick Skye brought back was still red-hot from the fire. "I have to do it before it cools off, okay? On the count of three." Once Skye was situated Jemma pulled her strap aside and got the stick ready in her hand. "One, Two-" Jemma pressed the stick against the wound and grimaced at the hiss it made. It was quick though and the anticipation was the worst part, so she thought she was doing Skye a kindness.

This...this was not the first time Skye had had grit and bear it for something surrounding an injury. She’d learned to do that long before the plane crash ever happened too, much in the way she’d had to learn to read people to survive as a kid. She clenched her jaw and her head jerked to the side, her arm and shoulder never moved but she didn’t lose her battle against not making any noise when the searing pain hit as she let out a very graceful, “FUCK!” Her eyes clenched as she ground out another stifled groan and waited for the pain to subside. For a moment, she felt a pang of guilt for Izzy, when Jemma had tried to cauterize her arm. That was a much bigger spot than the one Jemma just cauterized on her. Skye’s fists were balled up against her thighs to the point that her nails were almost digging into her palms. She let out a long breath and shook her head. “Fuck,” she muttered on the next exhale.

"I'm so sorry!" Jemma exclaimed. She didn't know how to comfort her and she felt so guilty the first thing she did was lean in and kiss her shoulder a few inches from the bite turned burn. It was the only soothing thing she could think of, even if it was just emotional. She rubbed Skye's back, taking extra caution to avoid her new scratches. "I'm sorry." She repeated it as a mantra. She knew she was helping people when she did things like this, but it felt a whole lot more like she was hurting them. "That's it for that, I'm going to give your cut three stitches and check your ribs and then I'm done, ok? The worst part's over" Jemma wanted permission before she proceeded. She wanted to know Skye was breathing and had calmed down before she made her hurt again.

Skye was still recovering from the jolt of burning pain when Jemma kissed her shoulder, so she hoped the sudden hitch in her breathing could be chalked up to still reacting to the pain. She nodded, and took another deep breath. “Yeah,” she nodded again, “Okay,” she tried not to sound as hesitant as she felt. Stitches, she could handle stitches. Right. Breathe. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a couple of steady breaths. “Okay,” She murmured again once she opened them. She unfurled her fists and curled her hands around her bent knees as she was sitting there cross legged.

Jemma sighed and prepared herself for more. Obviously she wasn't hurting from this in the same way Skye was, but she was still hurting in her gut. It was worse to do these things to Skye than anyone else, probably because she was her friend. She was going to do as few stitches as possible and three was the definite number after she looked again. The tank top stayed off to the side where Jemma adjusted it so she had easy access. She would have distracted Skye the way she had done for her, but it would be much quicker and done in less than thirty seconds if she focussed on it, so that was what she did. She tied off the last knot, clipped it, and rubbed another set of circles into her back. "How's that?" Her lips were pursed tightly and her eyes were just watery enough for Skye to be able to tell she was upset for her. Again she found herself wondering why it had to be like this.

Skye understood why Jemma was upset. She’d spent her time asking Jemma question while stitching her up both to distract Jemma and to distract herself from the fact that she was hurting Jemma. The stitches were a cakewalk compared to the cauterizing, that was for sure. Jemma was much faster at them than Skye, which only made Skye feel worse about taking so long to stitch Jemma’s leg. She leaned just slightly into the touch along her back. She felt awful when she saw the tears welled up in Jemma’s eyes, so she forced a small smile on her face. “Thanks, Doc,” She breathed on an exhale.

Jemma smiled when Skye seemed to be alright. She didn't want to have to do any of this to her, but they were almost finished, on the home stretch. "I just need to see if your other stitches can come out yet. It will sting but not nearly as bad as putting them in." Jemma pat Skye's back lightly when she stopped circling and reached for the hem of her tank top. It would be awkward but Skye could hold it over her chest. She didn't need as much room to take them out as she did to sew them in. But her hand came into contact with something hard and when she pulled it up, her eyes widened and her mouth opened on an inhale, words on the tip of her tongue waiting to come out-

Until that very moment, Skye had been so distracted and thoroughly worn out that she completely forgot about the gun. She was just about to lift her right arm up when she felt Jemma’s hand against the gun as she pulled the hem of her shirt up. Skye spun slightly in her spot, cringing slightly at the sudden movement, and Jemma’s gasping inhale was cut short by Skye’s hand. Skye’s own eyes were wide as she swung her other hand up to hold her finger up to her lips instantly to shush her. She glanced around at the closest injured patients and when she was satisfied that they weren’t going to hear her, she quietly said, “Don’t freak out,” as she reached back to pull the back of the tank down over the gun. She watched Jemma carefully for a moment and then pulled her hand away from her mouth.

Jemma's mouth was still open slightly when Skye moved her hand and Jemma's eyes didn't leave her waistband. How she hadn't even noticed it, she had no idea, or maybe Skye was better at hiding things than she thought. "But you-" Jemma vaguely gestured to her waist. "But you have a-" Jemma looked around them before turning around and whispering under her breath. "a gun?!" Jemma's eyes were wide and she couldn't help but lean away a bit. Crash landing on an island full of dinosaurs changed her opinion on what kinds of truths she could possibly have to undermine and replace. "How did you get that?!" Jemma questioned. She hadn't yet shared Fitz's theory about an intentional crash to Skye and her brain couldn't help but make the connection, but she was internally hoping Skye had a very logical reason for this. She didn't want to believe Skye was anything other than the computer genius she'd been talking to on the plane and the woman who saved her life.

“It was in a lockbox in the bags I pulled from the water the other day.” Skye lied. Normally, she could manage a straight faced lie when she had to without feeling shitty about it. There were situations it was necessary. Most of the times she did it, it was self-preservation related. Right now, however, it made her feel like total shit to lie to Jemma. All of the not-quite-truths she’d told Jemma made her feel like shit. “Dumbasses had the key attached to the handle,” She went on, leaning close as she spoke quietly so only Jemma could hear. “I figured it must be the air marshal’s. I didn’t want anyone to know it existed. It’d be worse than Ward and his cronies getting their hands on the knives,” Especially if it came to a point where they couldn’t forage for or catch food. “ I didn’t want anyone to use it - I don’t want to use it,” otherwise she would’ve just pulled the thing and shot the damn terror birds while they were snapping at Jemma’s legs. “When I empty my bag, I’ll store it in there, but for now…” She shrugged. She had limited options. She felt nervous under Jemma’s gaze as she watched her face, looking for any and all of Jemma’s reactions.

Jemma carefully scanned Skye's face, looking for any possible signal that she could have any kind of malicious intent, but all she saw was fear. Her shoulders relaxed and she took a deep breath. "I wouldn't keep it in your bag. Who knows how desperate people could get, searching other people's bags doesn't seem out of bounds to certain people." Jemma made a pointed glance down the shore. "Keep it on you." She nodded. This was the best way she knew to let Skye know she believed her and supported her. But there were people around and other things needed to be addressed. Slowly, so Skye wouldn't react when she took it, Jemma slid the gun away and tucked it under the towel. "I still need to check on those stitches." Like nothing happened at all, Jemma's face was back to her normal expression: worried for Skye.

Skye didn’t relax right away. She felt another pang of guilt for lying to Jemma but ducked her head and nodded in agreement at Jemma’s advice, or her acknowledgement that she believed Skye. She wanted to tell Jemma everything. If anyone here deserved it from her, it was Jemma. She couldn’t, though and she knew it. “Thank you,” She said, forcing her shoulders to relax as Jemma hid the gun. She reached for the hem of her tank top on the right side to pull it up and to keep her arm out of the way so Jemma could check her stitches. “How long do the ones in your forehead have to stay in?” she asked to fill the silence between them.

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't have a mirror." Jemma frowned. As she did it she could feel the tug of the thread, but she'd gotten used to it. "Yours aren't quite ready to come out yet, with all the activity I'd give them another few days. Be careful and you'll have them out in no time." Jemma smoothed the gauze and tape back over the wound. It was starting to heal but wasn't at a point where Jemma was certain it wouldn't reopen when it didn't have reinforcements. She tugged Skye's tank back down and reached up with her clean left hand to tap on her wound. It was hard to tell without seeing. "As for mine, if the skin looks strongly connected then they can come out. Usually they do after this amount of time, but I hope you have good judgement." Jemma joked, but with head wounds it was fairly easy to tell, she just couldn't feel it between the thread.

Skye was still trying to keep her mind off of thinking about two things simultaneously: Jemma’s touch along her side and the guilt from her growing list of lies. She shifted after smoothing out her shirt. She leaned in to get a good look at Jemma’s stitches, ignoring the impulse to stare at other parts of Jemma’s face, like her mouth, which was really close at the moment. She examined Jemma’s stitches, looking at the skin beneath them to see if it was sealed back together and healed over enough that it wouldn’t burst open if the stitches were gone. “I don’t know how one would want to rate my judgement,” Skye said, checking the whole gash before she sat back. “But the skin looks like it’s healed together on itself. I can take them out if you want…?” It wouldn’t be all that complicated, right? If Skye could put them in place, she could take them out too.

"That would be best. The goal is to get the skin to heal together without fusing to the thread like a piercing." Jemma explained. She dug out the tiny scissors again and offered them to Skye, blade in her fingers and handle facing her. "It's exactly how you would think. Snip it and just gently slide it out." When Skye took hold of the scissors, Jemma placed her free hand on top of Skye's and gave it a squeeze. She couldn't tell her how proud she was of her for suffering through her own treatments and learning medical procedures to help Jemma herself. She also felt like she gained a little more bravery when she held Skye's hand. She knew it wouldn't hurt all that much, if at all, but maybe she wanted to hold Skye's hand anyway.

Skye nodded. It seemed pretty cut and dry taking them out, much easier it seemed than putting them in. She paused when Jemma squeezed her hand, more than willing to take a moment for comfort, especially so if it was also something Jemma needed after her ordeal. She offered Jemma a small, reassuring smile and after a moment took a slow breath through her nose then said, "Well, let's get these out and get that covered, then you can check out the creature in my bag?" Skye worked quickly but quietly to get the stitches out, her eyes shifting every so often to Jemma's face to see if it was hurting her even though there was nothing she'd be able to do about it if this was the case. She knew Jemma would probably insist on checking over Will and the others before she looked at the mutant lizard/possible dinosaur, but whatever. Skye figured Mack and the others would be back with the terror bird carcass by then too and maybe they could salvage Jemma's shoe. If not, Skye would rifle through the unclaimed clothes to find her some new ones.

Jemma kept her eyes closed and just enjoyed Skye's cool touch. The area was still sore, there was no doubt about that, but it was satisfying as each stitch came out and every time Skye grazed her forehead with a finger, a small shiver ran up her spine. "I'll try to contain myself as examine your little friends. For science." Jemma giggled and opened her eyes to see Skye's reaction. It was probably insensitive since Kebo had been killed just that day, but she didn't even know him and everything was a sore spot on this island, so she might as well joke.

The right side of Skye's mouth twitched upward. She was upset about what happened to Kebo, sure, because it happened on her watch. He'd nearly killed her by throwing his knife the way he had, though, just before the mutant lizard pack attack so Skye wasn't going to let her conflicting emotion about the situation take Jemma's moment of levity away. "Now don't hold out on me, Doc," She smirked a little bit. "I'm counting on experiencing the magic of Jurassic Jemma in action in all her paleontology glory." She quickly cut small strips of gauze to tape over Jemma's remaining cut once the stitches were gone. "All set," she said.

"Well then let's see the bugger." Jemma made a gesture with her hand and adjusted in her place, angling herself to try to see into Skye's bag even before she opened it. "We'll both share the Nobel prize when we tell everyone back home what we've found." Jemma joked. Fantasizing was exactly what they needed right now. Maybe it wasn't even just a joke. People would go nuts over this when they returned. She would take care to keep the evidence.

"Jurassic Jemma is also generous with her discovery credits, good to know," Skye chuckled and zipped the first aid kit shut. he dragged her back closer and popped the clasps. Flipping the top back, she reached in and pulled the very dead animal out of the bag with both hands and placed it in the small space between them. She brought her hands back to her own lap and looked up from the creature to watch Jemma's face as she examined the thing, whatever the hell it actually was. "We have a couple of them, in some of the other packs," she said. "Didn't know what they were. There were a lot of them at once, fifty easy. The ones we brought back were the ones that chased us while the rest of them..." fed on, "went after Kebo."

Jemma's eyes widened and she didn't even hear what Skye had said. Her hands were reaching and very delicately lifting the creature's head. Its neck was broken but other than that it was in perfect shape, an amazing specimen. If Jemma could have only seen this as a child. She never would have given it up. Her fingers ran over its scales and she looked at its claws and its teeth. The body structure and the way it hunted in giant packs made it obvious what it was. "It's a Compsognathus. It's not even from anywhere near the same time period as the terror birds." Jemma frowned. None of this made any sense. It was already crazy that there were dinosaurs, but the island didn't seem to follow the same timeline at all. "This is incredible." It was horrible, Jemma knew, but incredible. “We’ve found dinosaurs.” Jemma looked up at Skye with both wonder and terror in her eyes. What else could be here?

Skye blinked. "Gesundheit," she teased with a crooked smirk at the name of the thing. The dinosaur. Skye fought dinosaurs...in a jungle, on a previously uninhabited tropical island after crash landing on it from an airplane on a flight across the Pacific. Skye could practically hear the Twilight Zone theme song playing in the back of her mind, with the narrated opening of top of it, 'You're about to enter a world, a world lost in time, a world full of extinct creatures, where behind every turn there's a chance you'll be devoured by prehistory. You're about to enter, The Twilight Zone...do do do do, do do do do, do do do do...' Her brow furrowed as she watched Jemma poke, prod and examine the animal. "Dinosaurs...from different time periods in prehistory," she ran a hand over her face and sighed. "As if surviving a plane crash wasn't enough..." She looked at Jemma, less wonder in her own eyes, more fear and apprehension instead. She chewed on the bottom corner of her lip and considered the situation. Who knew what else was lurking in the jungle? What had the terror birds even fought with the other night? "How do we find a fresh water source without running into either of these things and without relying on rain..." she wondered aloud just as gasps and murmurs started erupting throughout the camp as the others came back dragging the terror bird carcass through the sand.

"I suppose we'll have to figure that out later." Jemma looked over her shoulder as a crowd began gathering around the giant bird before the crew even had it to the middle of the beach where their largest group fire was. "We'll be eating like kings tonight!" She heard Hunter shout, and excited cheers erupted from the group of survivors even if they didn't know what it was. Jemma gingerly lifted the dinosaur like it was a living baby and placed it in her bag to bring to the meeting. Like Skye had thought, nobody would believe it without proof and they took science from her and Fitz without fuss. "We're having a group meeting to discuss what happened. After that you can patch us all up now that the other two are back." Will jogged over and held out a hand to help Skye up before he lifted Jemma. They would at least be in agreement that she shouldn't be walking with her leg so freshly injured, especially without a shoe to keep her out of the sand.

Skye felt wary of the cheering. she understood it and she was happy for the morale boost for everyone, but all the same she felt wary. There was another shoe waiting to drop somewhere (not just Jemma's shoe) and she wasn't sure what it was or when it would drop, but she knew it would. She let Will help her up and when he went to scoop Jemma up, she quickly grabbed her hidden gun under the towel and tucked it in her back waistband, pulled her shirt easily over to cover it. She made it look like she was just stooping over to pick up her bag with the dinosaur and slung that over her good shoulder. She exchanged a glance with Jemma over Will's shoulder as she followed them toward the group. Skye’s face fell solemn as they approached. Ward and his current group of cronies, Garrett, Malick, Quin, Raina and a couple guys she still didn't know the names of yet had inserted themselves into the gathering crowd. Skye had been watching Garrett and Ward slither their way throughout the camp the last couple of days, taking people aside for whispered conferences, cutting off their conversations when anyone ventured by. She tried to keep an eye on it when she could but as of yet didn't know what that noise was all about, only knew it was suspicious. "She sure is a beaut, ain't she, fellas?" Garrett grinned, puffed his chest out and rested his hands on his waist as if he had some hand in retrieving the terror bird. "Sure is, boss," Quinn gave Garrett a jovial slap on the back. He pulled his hand away when Garrett glared at him and then rubbed his hands together. "So! When do we eat?" "As soon as you thank Jemma, Mack, Hunter, Spaceman and Yoyo for finding and bagging your meal," Skye said as they approached. Garrett fixed her with a sour look but Skye's shoulders were squared and her jaw stiff, head held high, daring him to challenge her with only the fierce look of her dark gaze. Coulson stood by the bird's neck with his hands on his hips, a thoughtful but dubious look on his face. "Now hold on a minute - we don't know if it's even edible. We could cook this and eat it and be dead by morning," he said, his tone cautious. Skye turned to Jemma, her features shifting to soften significantly though she was still guarded. "Got any insight on that for us, Doc?" She asked.

"You can put me down." Jemma tapped Will's shoulder and he slowly let her down. She felt ridiculous talking to the group while being cradled like a baby, so she stood on her left leg and reached over to Skye on her right for balance, being careful of her shoulder of course. "I don't see any reason to worry. It's not known to be venomous or poisonous so I would think our only concern should be cooking it all the way through." Jemma said. She couldn't be 100% certain it was safe, but she wasn't going to tell them that. She couldn't even be 100% certain the fruit was safe since it could be drastically different genetically than what they bought in the supermarket.

Skye reflexively reached out and hooked her arm around Jemma’s middle to balance her and keep her from falling. She wasn’t sure about the potential toxicity of anything they were already eating and drinking from this place. They had limited options, so, either way it was do or die. Skye gave Jemma’s middle a small squeeze, for no real reason than just because she could. Admittedly, Skye felt a surge of triumph that Jemma preferred to stand hobbled and holding onto her than letting Will cart her around.

“Right then, let’s gut the monster and have a barbecue!” Hunter slapped his hands together and rubbed them eagerly as he grinned.

Coulson gave in with a nod after exchanging a look with Jemma. He still felt a bit concerned with how edible it could be, but he could see the reasoning in Jemma’s assertion. They’d survived the fish that he and Trip caught, so what was another caught animal? “Okay, let’s take care of this then, Trip, you’re with me. Robbie, Joey, Bobbi, Alisha, collect as much wood as you can to build the fire up. Mack, Hunter, Yoyo, Will, let Jemma have a look at your injuries,” He glanced at Jemma to make sure that was alright then turned to Ward, Garrett, Quinn, Raina and their crew. “If you want a share, you’ll help us clean, cut, carve it up, cook it and dry it out. That’s the deal.” He said, holding his hands out at his side as if to say, ‘take it or leave it, up to you.’

“Trip,” Skye said as Trip was starting to cut his way through the terror bird’s gut. He looked up at her. “You find a read sneaker in there, you give me a holler, yeah?” She asked. Trip arched his eyebrows and then followed Skye’s indication as she nodded toward Jemma’s foot.

Trip gave them both a broad grin. “I’ll do what I can,” He gave them a wink and then got back to work.

Skye looked over at Jemma. “You alright?” She asked. She wasn’t going to make Jemma walk back in the sand with the way her leg was but that didn’t mean she wanted to let go of her just yet.

"I know I shouldn't walk, but it makes me feel a bit useless to be carried." Jemma held onto Skye a little more tightly and tilted her head so they were face to face. They were so close and Jemma just wanted to rest her forehead against Skye's and take a break from... all this. "You're a little ridiculous, you know that Jemma?" Will chuckled. "I might be carrying you but it's to the medical supplies, where you're helping all the injured." Will raised his brow and offered his hand out to Jemma. She eventually sighed and gave in, knowing that hopping would be a struggle. She gave Skye one more squeeze before letting herself shift into Will's arms to be transported again. "Are we going to share with the group what it actually is over dinner?" Jemma asked the both of them quietly. There were still compys in their bags and she didn't know what the group thought the bird was, but they hadn't questioned it as anything other than a mean, probably because it didn't look like a dinosaur.

Skye wasn’t prepared for the shift that brought them standing so close face to face. A number of inappropriate urges hit her all at once and wound tight in her lower belly. And then Will started talking and Skye had to close her eyes and take a steady breath. She wanted Will to carry Jemma back. It made sense. She knew Jemma didn’t like and she certainly loathed the idea of letting Jemma go at the moment, but all the same, she opened her eyes and eased back as Jemma moved away and Will picked her up.

Skye cleared her throat and tried to jog her thoughts loose from where they’d been wandering, matching Will’s pace as they headed back toward the medical tent. She nodded. “They’re too excited about the food aspect,” She said. “When everyone’s gathered for dinner and filled their stomachs with more than just mangos and papaya,” she said. “We’ll lay it all out for them about everything. Hopefully by then it will have sunk in and they’ll be more attentive,” She glanced back at the others.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Will added. Jemma nodded as well and held a hand out to steady herself on the ground as Will lowered her onto the towel. Yoyo, Mack, and Hunter were already there waiting, grim looks on their faces. They knew what they were here for and Jemma gave them all apologetic looks. "Skye?" Jemma raised her brows in question and glanced at the little black patch on the ground where Skye made the fire she'd used to cauterize her bite, silently asking her to prepare another.

Skye caught the look and pressed her lips into a tight line at the memory of Jemma cauterizing her shoulder. She gave Jemma a small nod, set her bag down and then went to work to gather enough fire to be able to cauterize wounds on four other people. It wasn’t going to be pretty at all but it had to be done.

Trip rescued Jemma’s shoe and Skye went to retrieve it. She spent a great deal of time down at the water’s edge with some soap from her toiletry bag scrubbing the ever living hell out of the shoe and rinsing it out thoroughly. She found a decently sized branch to stand up in the sand so that she could hang the shoe from it near the fire in the hopes of drying it out faster. When it came time to eat, Skye helped with getting the wounded people in the tent fed first. Afterward (and sadly with Will’s help again), they moved out to the main stretch of beach to join everyone else for the meal.

It really was a feast, all things considered. It wasn’t the best meat Skye had ever eaten but it worked with the fruit they’d managed to forage (including some extra citrus fruits they’d managed to find before the animal attacks). She sat close to Jemma’s side, not willing to stray too far. Happy chatter filled the air as people got their fill of food and went back for seconds and, in some cases thirds. Even Ward and the goons were jovial. It was almost nice if the lingering fact that they were stranded here after a terrible plane crash wasn’t ever present in the back of her mind on top of the fact that they had to tell people they were eating prehistoric birds and that dinosaurs had attacked them earlier.

As dinner was winding down and people were settling into the sand with their full bellies, Skye looked over at Jemma. “Think this will ruin their nice meal vibe?” she asked.

Jemma held up a hand and waited until she swallowed the slightly tough meat before she answered. "All good things must come to an end." She nodded. Looking around them in the dimming light, for the first time, everyone in the group looked happy. Just something as simple as a larger meal lifted everyone's spirits. Jemma didn't want to scare them, but they couldn't not tell everyone if they were living in the shadows of dinosaurs. "Do you want to start or should I?" Jemma glanced down at Skye's bag. She didn't know who it would be better coming from. Her, the scientist that looked at the body, or Skye and her crew, the ones who had encountered them, sustained bites, and brought back bodies. At least the dinosaurs that looked like dinosaurs and not giant ostriches, anyway.

Skye wiped her hands on her pant legs and moved to stand. She tugged her bag across her shoulders again and then held her hands out to Jemma. “We’ll start it together?” She suggested. They both had relevant information to give out to everyone and it made more sense to put up a united front between the science and the eyewitness evidence. “Think you can hobble a little bit to the center with me?” She didn’t want to make Jemma hop, but she didn’t want to keep making her let Will carry her since she’d expressed discomfort with the action earlier.

"I can do it." Jemma nodded, but she grunted a bit as she got to her feet and awkwardly limped forward some. People were already beginning to look at them and wonder and the volume of conversation had gone down significantly before they even started. "So a lot of you might be wondering what exactly you're eating," Jemma started. This quieted the rest of the group and she and Skye had all of their attention now. "It's not an ostrich and it's definitely not a turkey." She drew it out some just so people would be prepared and wouldn't suggest these as alternatives. "The meat we just ate came from the animal that did this-" Jemma stuck her leg out. "And it's prehistoric in nature. They are Phorusrhacids, but often called terror birds. Essentially, they are dinosaurs." Jemma tried to keep it scientific, but she could already see she was losing them. She'd need some backup from Skye with the Compy and her more down to Earth speech to really explain what was going on.

Skye was careful to keep a firm grip around Jemma as she limped, trying to take as much weight off of her foot as possible as they moved through the sand while also trying not to kick up too much sand either. She stood next to Jemma while she spoke and just waited for her turn. Skye watched the expressions on various faces as Jemma explained what happened to her leg and what everyone had just been eating. There were some murmurs filtering through the crowd, though Skye couldn’t quite make all of them out.

People became restless at Jemma’s explanation. Skye set her bag on the ground and flipped the top open. When she stood back up she cleared her throat loudly. “I know you’ve all stuffed yourself into near food-coma status,” She spoke slower than her usual cadence, carefully projected her voice to make sure she was heard by the surrounding group, over the sounds of the surf, the crack of the fire and the rumbling murmurs of the group. “But you need to know what we found out there. That sound you heard in the jungle a few nights ago? That was one of these birds…” She pointed to what remained of the butchered carcass a little ways down the beach at the moment. “We have no idea what it was fighting but we heard those sounds before we heard Jemma screaming and found three of those things surrounding her.” She said. “That wasn’t the only thing that attacked our group in the jungle,” She paused and let that sink in. She glanced at Jemma and then crouched down and scooped out the compy’s body. She stood back up.

“While out there, we found a small animal similar to this one stuck in one of the snare traps. Kebo,” Skye paused and cleared her throat. “Kebo killed it and within seconds we were swarmed with upwards of forty or fifty of these guys,” She held the dinosaur body out. “This, too, is a dinosaur, it’s a-,” Skye turned to Jemma then as she kept holding the compy up for display, looking for the full name of the dinosaur.

"It's a Compsognathus, but we'll call it a compy for short." Jemma finished for Skye.

Gasps and whispers slowly increased in  volume until Ward finally stood up. "So you're telling us we're on an island full of dinosaurs and you didn't tell us immediately?!" He accused. Several of his friends and even the others began agreeing and protesting, saying they should have been told what they were eating first. "Quiet, everyone. It's a lot to process but pointing fingers won't help anyone." Coulson stood up and silenced the rest of the group. They slowly settled back down and tried to digest the information while waiting to see what would happen next. "No one should go into the jungle unaccompanied under any circumstance." Jemma made eye contact with each and every person as she swept the crowd. It was almost hypocritical to say, but she had learned her lesson. "This has to be an episode of Punked." Jemma heard someone say. She definitely wished this was true.

Questions and comments came at them rapid fire after that.

“Why’d you hide it from us?” - Robbie

“What’s to stop them from tracking you back here and attacking us all?” - Creel, one of Ward’s cronies

“We had a right to know about this!” - Quinn

“Are they going to eat us?” - Ace, bless his heart.

“No, Ace,” Skye called out to him first. “We’re not going to let them eat anyone-,”

“How can you promise something like that?” Garrett asked. “Lying to an impressionable young boy?” He shook his head as he stepped closer toward Skye and Jemma. Skye bristled, her muscles stiffened and she felt her hackles rising. “You seem to have appointed yourself as some kind of leader, Skye, and I could maybe admire that...if you hadn’t gotten one of your men killed today,” He pointed out with a devious little smile as further murmurs rushed through the surrounding crowd.

“Kebo got himself killed,” Skye replied. “He nearly took my head off with a knife and as soon as he killed the compy in the snare, the others attacked. It was a coordinated effort-,”

“A coordinated effort,” Garrett shook his head. “You expect us to believe pea-brained lizards led a conspiracy to attack and kill Kebo?”

"Those 'lizards' are anything but pea-brained!" Jemma's shrill objection was laced with anger. She couldn't stand by and watch him blame Skye like everyone else, but nobody seemed to be listening to her. "This wasn't Skye's fault! None of it was!"

“It happened on my watch - regardless of who was at clear fault,” Skye snapped. “I take responsibility for that - it shouldn’t have happened. We were caught by surprise.”

“I’m glad you’re woman enough to admit your shortcomings, Skye,” Garrett reached out and clamped a hand down on the top of Skye’s injured left shoulder. Skye ground her teeth together and felt the bridge of her nose burn as pain shot through her shoulder and down her back. She refused to flinch away from Garrett. “I think you’ll understand, in that case, why the rest of us would choose to relieve you of your burdens and take over for you from here-,”

Skye shrugged Garrett’s arm off and took a step to the side to get out of his reach. She glared at him and fought to keep her voice steady and deathly calm. “Not only did you not even bother asking what it was you were going to eat, you haven’t done a damn thing to help anyone but yourself, so you can either sit down and shut the fuck up unless you’ve got something actually helpful to say instead of being divisive...or you can go back to your own section of beach and continue playing with yourself.” Skye snapped by the end.

“That’s enough!” Coulson interrupted again. He looked between Skye and Garrett, who were in the middle of a staredown. “We’re in this together. Now, all of us were excited to have our meal. That meal wouldn’t be in our stomachs right now if it wasn’t for Skye, Jemma and the rest of the group who risked their lives to find food and water for us-,”

“They didn’t find water,” Quinn cut in.

“That’s right,” Garrett said. “We’re still living off whatever the clouds feel like bringing us on any given day.

“That’s why I’ll be taking volunteers back into the jungle in the morning,” Skye cut in. “We’ll be foraging and continuing the search for a fresh water source. Knowing the risks involved after what happened today, I won’t fault anyone who doesn’t want to go with me.” She looked around at the group. “Either way, that’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow.”

For a moment it was silent. Not a single person spoke up for fear of being mistaken as a volunteer. Jemma watched everyone turn their heads and look at each other. They were waiting for someone to speak up. They all wanted water, but none of them were willing to risk anything. Jemma would volunteer herself, but in her state she would be much more of a burden. "I'll go." Bobbi, the copilot stood and Jemma breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She had been afraid Skye would have to go on her own, and she knew she wouldn't hesitate. There were monsters out there and Jemma feared for her. "We'll jump back onto the bandwagon." Mack and YoYo stood up. Hunter remained seated, and Will looked to Jemma, silently asking her what to do. Jemma wanted him to go so it was safer, but he ended up looking away and deciding to stay in camp.

Skye had been holding her breath as she waited for volunteers. She honestly didn’t expect any and it didn’t matter if no one volunteered, Skye was stilling going out there even if it was alone. Someone had to. She knew Garrett, Ward and their crew were watching her and she didn’t want to make a big expulsion of a sigh of relief when Bobbi volunteered. So she regulated the slow breath she exhaled through her nose and turned to look at Bobbi.

Before she could speak, Mack and Yoyo spoke up and Skye gave them a solemn, grateful nod. She wasn’t surprised by Hunter or by Will. Honestly, she was alright with Will staying behind considering he’d run off in the wrong direction and she’d had to chase after him when the compy attack happened. She didn’t like the idea of him staying at the beach and hanging around Jemma like a lost puppy dog either, but, well, she had limited options.

“Thank you,” Skye said to Bobbi, Mack and Yoyo.

“I’m certainly not going to follow the angel of death into the jungle,” Garrett mimed washing his hands clean of the situation and turned to saunter away.

“I wouldn’t expect a coward to stick his neck out on the line for anyone,” Skye set her jaw tight and ground the words out. She crouched down to put the compy body back into her bag, not sure what to do with the thing, really and just needing to occupy herself with something so she didn’t go throwing punches at people again.

When she stood back up, Garrett had crossed through a few people in the crowd. He grabbed Skye by the back of her neck and yanked her toward him. “Now you listen to me, you little-,”

Jemma's breath hitched in her throat and her muscles tensed when Garrett got closer to Skye. Her hands balled into fists and she began a lunge, but Will wrapped an arm around her waist and stopped her from going anywhere before she really even started.

Before he finished his sentence, before Coulson, Trip and Mack had finished starting to move toward the two, in a flurry of sudden, graceful and swift movement, Skye broke Garrett’s hold on her on her and had managed to flip him onto his back in the sand at her feet. It had been reflex. When Garrett first grabbed her, she’d been facing Jemma. Her pupils had blown wide and her muscles seized, locked in fear. An expression of abject terror had been on her face. In that next moment, Garrett was on his back in the sand, the window knock out of him and Skye standing over him, her legs slightly apart, knees bent and her hands up and ready to defend herself. Her breathing had gone suddenly shallow and staggered and she could feel her pulse racing in panic. Not the first time Skye had been grabbed from behind by someone who meant to do her harm...also something she’d promised herself as a kid that she’d never let happen to her again.

Jemma's eyes were wide and her jaw hung open slightly. Even Will's grip on her relaxed slightly as everyone stared at Skye. Jemma had no idea she could fight like that, but it seemed there was a lot about her she didn't know yet.

“The next time you put your hands on anyone else on this island without their permission,” Skye glared down at him. “I won’t stop at throwing you on your ass. That’s a promise.” She tried to keep her balled fists from trembling but there was only so much she could do considering the constant range of emotions she’d been cycling through nonstop since the crash. Things could only ever be suppressed for so long. Skye forced her hands to unfurl. She grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and stepped to the side, turning so her back was to Jemma but she was between Jemma and Garrett and his buddies as Ward moved to help Garrett up while glaring at Skye. Skye watched their every movement, her hands twitching at her sides in anticipation.

Now that the initial danger had passed, when Jemma squirmed away from Will he let her go and Jemma very carefully walked up to Skye. She didn't want to startle her, so she breathed a quiet "Hey," before she touched Skye's arm and ran her hand down to Skye's so she could hold it firmly.

Even though she heard Jemma's movement behind her, Skye's muscles still jumped a bit when she touched her. Her hand did wind firmly around Jemma's, though. She didn't turn her away from Garrett's retreating form until he was far enough down the beach that it was hard to see them without fire light. She tried to regulate her breathing to calm her pulse down, aware of the eyes, aside from Jemma's, on her at the moment. How was she supposed to explain that one to them? Skye knew how to defend herself from some of her younger years, as a teen, but those skill had certainly become much more refined after her recruitment into the agency.

"That's enough. Let's try to enjoy the rest of the night. Remember to try and conserve the water we have left until the exploration party finds a new source." Coulson knew the time for getting along had passed for the night, so he ended it and those who were done eating began to disperse. "Are you ok?" Jemma asked quietly. She knew Skye probably wouldn't talk when Will was still hanging around, but she had to ask anyway.

Skye swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. She was acutely aware of Will lingering near them when Jemma asked that question. She wasn't even sure she would have honestly answered that if she and Jemma were completely alone right then. "Yeah," she lied, though she didn't do a very good job of hiding that it was a lie. "I'm fine," she added with a nod. Coulson turned to Skye as the crowd separated. "Can I have a word with you about tomorrow?" He asked Skye. Skye released Jemma's hand. She felt her stomach churn, like she was about to go to the principal's office for a lecture and detention slip. "Yeah," she agreed. She grabbed her bag by its strap and held it out for Fitz, who had come over after the crowd was moving away and looked between Fitz and Will. "Will you guys help Jemma back?" She didn't wait for them to answer, she knew they would do it. Skye spared a last glance toward Jemma and then followed Coulson away from the area so they'd be out of earshot from everyone.

Jemma watched sadly as Skye left. She wanted to take her away and let her calm down and see if she wanted to talk about it, but it was too late. Fitz pulled her arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist to help walk her back. She didn't want to be carried everywhere, so she let both Fitz and Will support some of her weight. Every right footfall, a sting shot up her leg and Jemma barely put any weight on it to avoid tearing the stitches. "You should get some rest." Fitz advised when they deposited her by the small shelter. "You've had a long day and tomorrow I should be done grounding the fuselage. We'll be able to move into it and not worry about storms." He explained. Jemma nodded, but she wasn't really listening. She was watching Skye and Coulson down the beach even though she couldn't pick up on any conversation. "I'm going to go help clean up from dinner. If you need me give a shout." Will told her. Jemma nodded.

Coulson gave Skye a lecture about controlling her temper. Skye told him that she refused to let someone manhandle her or anyone else in the camp and that he shouldn't expect her to tolerate someone violently grabbing her. Coulson lectured her then about needing to maintain peace and order while everyone's nerves were frayed. Skye had to bite hard into her tongue to keep from making an outburst about frayed nerves. Skye had quite a few frayed nerves, she'd had no time to sort through them all and it didn't look like she was about to get any either. They spoke briefly about the trek for tomorrow and then she broke away from him. Skye went back to the main fire where she'd propped a branch and hung Jemma's shoe to dry. She pulled the sneaker free and checked it over to make sure it was totally dry and then headed up the beach. First, she stopped at the small shelter she'd made herself on the edge of the camp. She set up a small fire to get it going and then dug through her bag, first for some new underwear and jeans that she changed into inside her shelter. She tugged a new overshirt on over her tank and covered the gun with the extra layers then she rifled around for some clothes to offer Jemma if she wanted to change. With an armful of clothes (pants, a tank, a long sleeve shirt and a button down shirt) and Jemma's now clean sneaker, Skye made her way over to Jemma, both because she wanted to drop the things off and because she would need to get her messenger bag to prepare it for the trek in the morning. "Hey..." She said as she approached, keeping her eyes angled down.

"Everything alright?" Jemma glanced up when she approached. She threw Fitz a look that meant he should take a walk and he got up to check on May and the only other remaining patient. She pat the sand next to her, hoping she would stay and keep her company for a little while. Fitz was her friend, but somehow she found herself enjoying Skye's presence more. "What's all this?" She looked at the bundle of clothes Skye had in her hands. She was getting a bit chilly with half of her pants leg missing, so she was hoping she had found her something.

Skye hesitated. she watched Fitz as he stepped away and then stood for another moment before she finally gave in and sat down in the sand. She could stay for a few minutes and then she'd ask Jemma what she wanted to do with the compy body, then she'd take her bag back to her shelter to prepare for tomorrow. "It's for you," Skye said. "I know my stuff's a bit bigger on you, but it's the best I could," she handed the pile over. " And your shoe. I think it's fully dry now." She explained her pile of gifts much like she had that second night when she'd delivered blankets and supplies. "How's your leg?"

"It's doing pretty well, considering." Jemma tilted her leg side to side to show her. She'd gotten used to the stinging every time her skin moved even slightly. "And I'm sure whatever you're offering is better than this." Jemma chuckled and pinched where the front of her jeans now ended just below her knee. Jemma sorted through the bundle and grinned when she saw the shoe. She was sure it hadn't been pleasant getting it back to her in such a good state. The previously white shoelaces were stained red, but other than that it could have been normal. She accepted the pants and the raglan top with maroon sleeves. She didn't want to take anything else, she was already accepting too much. Her own tank was holding up well enough and she figured they should use everything as long as they could. She'd have the shirt Skye gave her before and the new one to rotate out so she didn't feel so dirty though. "I can't take all your clothes." Jemma handed the button down and the tank top back to Skye, but she still had a small smile on her face so Skye would know she was grateful. She realized as she held the pants that she was going to have a bit of trouble getting into them on her own without getting sand in places she didn't want sand. She was going to have to ask for help to stay standing for the maneuver and her face flushed pink. Changing tops before had been one thing, but nobody had seen her in her underwear in quite some time.

Skye glanced at Jemma's leg, for once not actually in a clinical way like she had when she was stitching it up. Her thoughts wandered for a moment until Jemma handed the shirts back. "Are you sure?" she asked while still not quite letting her eyes reach Jemma's. "I had a lot packed. I've been away for longer than I'd like to admit, so, it was a large suitcase." Skye had only changed so many times, well mostly because of her shirts being stained with blood. She hadn't really had much time to try and wash them in the ocean even if that meant having somewhat salty clothes. Caught up in her thoughts - not only both the previous inappropriate ones about Jemma's legs and the ones about wanting to make sure Jemma had what she needed to feel comfortable as far as clothes went, but also about all the things she'd been (rightly?) blamed for since the crash, Skye caught Jemma blushing but wasn't sure why. She assumed she must have been staring or zoning out, but asked, "What?" with a curiously arched eyebrow anyhow, just in case it was something else.

Jemma was sure her face reddened another shade or two when she looked up and saw that cute wondering face. She loved when her eyebrow quirked up like that and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth to hide the nervous smile, albeit unsuccessfully. "It's nothing, I just..." Jemma took a deep breath and held up the pants some, "...need some help." A nervous laugh bubbled up and she glanced past Skye's shoulder instead of looking at her face.

Skye's brow came together as she watched Jemma dissolve into nerves. Jemma couldn't meet Skye's eyes for an entirely different reason than the ones preventing Skye from meeting hers. It clicked in her head, what the problem was and her own cheeks and the tops of her ears went a few shades of pink. "Oh," she said. She set the things in her hands off to the side and moved to her knees. "Right, yeah. Of course," She tried to think of anything but Jemma taking her clothes off and failed miserably, which instantly made her temperature rise a few sudden degrees and caused another tight pull in the lower part of her abdomen. Skye looked around for something to hold and found a blanket. She hooked it around her shoulders for now and then stood up. She held her hands out to help Jemma up once she was out of the sneaker she still had on. When she was sure Jemma was mostly steady, she let go so she could grab the ends of the blanket and dropped it behind her back. She stuck her arms out again, both to balance Jemma and to try and keep her blocked from view as best she could with the blanket. There was only so much she could do about the exposure but she did what she could. She kept her eyes forward, occasionally on Jemma’s face, but, fuck, did they want to stray down the length of her body.

"Very clever." Jemma laughed again to hide her anxiousness as she caught her balance. She had to stay within an arm's length of Skye to stay behind her cover, and she would like to since there were still many people milling about. Once they both took a few seconds to breathe, Jemma removed one of her hands from Skye's arm and fumbled trying to unbutton her jeans. The combination of only using one hand (since the other was holding onto Skye for balance), trying to keep most of her weight on one foot, and the fact that she and Skye were face to face made it hard to get the button undone.  Eventually she popped it open and the tips of her ears started burning like the rest of her face when the sound of her unzipping her pants reached their ears. Jemma tried to keep her eyes off of Skye's face, but occasionally they made eye contact and she shifted her gaze away.

Skye couldn’t help but smile at the way Jemma kept laughing now and then with her nerves. “You don’t have to be flustered,” she assured. “We’ve all had to put pants on before,” She smiled to let Jemma know she was just joking around to try and make her feel better. It was much harder to shimmy the skinny jeans over her hips and down her legs. By this point her entire being felt flushed. She finally managed to get them down to her knees and very carefully bent over to get them over her cut and off her ankles. She didn't look up to check and make sure Skye wasn't looking because she wouldn't know how to respond if she was. She was even more embarrassed that she might have enjoyed the flattery of being looked at, and not in the creepy way Ward did.

Skye wasn’t gonna look. Skye wasn’t looking. Skye was emphatically not going to lower her eyes. Skye lowered her eyes to Jemma’s mouth but Jemma turned her gaze away. Skye was going to lower her eyes, but only to Jemma’s collarbones. Skye wasn’t gonna look, no sir. No, she wasn’t going to look at all. Oh for fucksakes, this was fucking torture, she wanted to look. Skye’s imagination was a wild and untamed place. She closed her eyes momentarily to try and focus. She wasn’t sure at this point if the heat was radiating off of her or off of Jemma but thinking about it made more heat pool between her legs. She’d closed her eyes at the worst moment as the sound of the zipper amplified in her ears. Skye popped her eyes back open - but she didn’t lower her eyes, nope. Skye wanted to take a long, admiring gaze at Jemma from head to toe. This moment was cruel and agonizingly slow. She did her best to steady Jemma whenever she wavered.

Jemma barely managed to get one foot through the new pair of pants when her balance wavered. Her grip on Skye's arm wasn't strong enough and with her good foot stuck in the pants, she stood up straight and wobbled back and forth, trying to catch herself, but the sand under her feet wasn't flat and she slipped, falling right into Skye's chest.

When Jemma bolted upright and wobbled, Skye immediately reached out and leaned to balance her. Instead, Jemma listed forward and suddenly smashed into Skye’s chest while her feet were off balance in the sand. Skye’s eyes widened. They were going down. She managed to throw her arms around Jemma’s waist as they fell and then Skye was on her back in the sand. The fall both on her back and with Jemma’s weight landing on top of her, expelled an, “Oof,” as the wind knocked out of her. Not only had that graceful fall happened but in her haste to grab onto Jemma to try and stop her fall...Skye wound up with her arms wound around Jemma and her hands firmly grasped on each cheek of her ass. Skye clenched her eyes shut a moment. This couldn’t be reality. There was just no way. She tried to calm her racing pulse and catch her breath but her face and neck were filling into shades of bright red and she was entirely distracted by Jemma’s knee and thigh which had landed right between her legs in the fall.

"Oh, God." Jemma groaned. They were both frozen in place and Jemma refused to open her eyes, but she knew where their hands were. Skye was accidentally gripping her ass, and in the sudden fall, Jemma had grabbed onto her shirt. Now she found she had one hand buried into the sand by Skye's waist and the other was, she guessed correctly, firmly over her right breast. If Jemma didn't know any better she would have feared spontaneous combustion. Not only was her skin on fire, but a sudden desire to press her leg against Skye a little more made her legs tingle. She couldn't move. Skye's eyes were closed, but Jemma's weren't. She stared down at Skye's face and she bit her lip. She knew she was supposed to move first, since she was on top, but Skye's hands were still on her rear end and she just stared at Skye like an idiot.

There were too many sensations coursing through Skye to pinpoint any one in particular. The heated tense coil between her legs and lower abdomen. The straining hardened nipple against her bra and Jemma’s palm. The sweat beading on her bright red forehead and cheeks. The inability to actually breathe anymore than a few shaky, shallow rasps. The initial puff of hot air against her collarbones when Jemma groaned. The urge to shift her hips. Her acute awareness of the flesh beneath her own hands. The wild and erratic jackhammer thudding of her heart bounding around her rib cage. When she finally opened her eyes, they were dazed and her pupils were blown wide. She hadn’t expected for her eyes to come into direct contact with Jemma’s when she opened them so she froze again. So, she thought, this is it. I survived a plane crash, a freak thunderstorm, attack by dinosaurs, attack by terror bird, attack by douche bag middle aged man, but this...this is how I die. It’s been a real wild ride, Life. So long and thanks for all the fish. Skye wasn’t sure what was going to happen first - her heart was going to explode or she would just die of her own embarrassment. Despite all of it, all she wanted was to give into the urge to lift her head and kiss Jemma. It was so fucking tempting.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Jemma was suddenly very aware that she was currently pantless when she heard Fitz's voice. Her hand jerked away from Skye's chest and she rolled off of her, scrambling for the blanket to cover up her legs and underwear so Fitz couldn't see. She was still sitting on one of Skye's hands and she scrambled to break all contact as Fitz stared down at them with his brows raised.

Skye’s eyes widened further, if that was at all possible, when Jemma was suddenly scrambling off of her. She felt the loss of touch - however embarrassing it had been, it was still a loss when it happened. She had to wait until Jemma was off of her hand before she could push herself to sit up. Her head spun with a particular kind of lightheadedness. She blinked a few times and looked over at Jemma, pupils still so wide it was almost all that could be seen of her eyes. Great she thought when she finally glanced at Fitz and saw him staring, or glaring really whenever it was directed toward Skye. Another thing to be blamed for.

Syke cleared her throat when she finally thought she could find her voice. “She fell while changing,” She forced herself to her feet and grabbed the clean pants to shake the sand out of them. She set them on the towel on the ground next to Jemma and then held her hands out for the blanket. “I’ll hold that, you pull those on without standing,” She suggested. “Fitz will turn around,” She added, glancing over her shoulder at him. Focus. Focus, focus, focus, focus. Deep breath, Skye pep talked herself. As soon as Jemma was changed, Skye would make a quick exit and they wouldn’t have to worry about the awkwardness of their joint embarrassment. No doubt Skye would spend the rest of the night thinking about this, though.

"Got it." Jemma dressed herself as quickly as possible, no longer caring about the sand. She just needed to be covered and cool down. If she had it she would dump a bucket of ice water over her head to clear her thoughts and get that burning heat out of her body. "I'm good." Jemma called out from behind her blanket wall. She buttoned up the pants and dragged herself to her feet. She felt like reaching out to Skye for balance, but she didn't think she could handle the shock of electricity it would shoot up her arm, so she hopped over to her shelter and sat back down. "Thanks for the clothes, Skye." Jemma couldn't look at her, but she still thanked her.

Skye definitely sent her eyes everywhere but directly at Jemma. She nodded and left the other shirts where she’d set them down so Jemma could have them. “You got it,” she cleared her throat and stepped over to where her messenger bag was sitting. “I’m just gonna...do you want...what, um…” She paused a took a steadying breath. “What do you want me to do with the, um,” She pointed to the compy body in the bag.

"I'll keep it." Jemma blurted out. The awkward barrier between them was not unknown to Jemma, so she quickly reached into the bag and pulled out the now stiff dinosaur. She was going to dissect it when she had the time and find a place to store the skeleton and the skin. Jemma liked to pretend it was a souvenir. This way people would believe them when they got back.

Skye nodded. She flipped the bag shut and slung the strap across her shoulders. “Right,” She stood up and cleared her throat again. “I’m just gonna, um, go and...yeah, um…” She finally glanced at Jemma for a very very brief moment. “Goodnight,” She dropped her eyes and made a quick exit out the side of the sheltered area and back toward her own shelter quickly, where she was destined to spend the night in a deep bout of extreme frustration.

Skye spent the night barely able to get any sleep. It took no time to set up her bag in preparation for the next day. She’d cleaned and sharpened her knives. Then there was nothing to do but wait and try to sleep. Her body wanted sleep badly but her brain refused to let her stop thinking about Jemma lying on top of her. By the time she fell asleep, it felt like only minutes before the sun was up and it was time to gather and head into the jungle after a quick leftover meal for breakfast.

The day was long, incredibly hot and humid, and there were three different rain storms throughout the morning and afternoon. The jungle trek crew failed to find a water source. They were careful to avoid compy and terror bird tracks. Thankfully, they didn’t run into any terrifying predators. They did fill up their bags with oranges, limes, figs, mangos, papayas and some more of Jemma’s various plants from her ‘medical uses’ list. So the trek wasn’t a total bust and Skye didn’t have to feel guilty about anyone else dying on her watch. She got to know Bobbi a little better as well, which was nice.

It was late afternoon when the group returned to camp. Skye delivered the food to Coulson with the others and then loaded all the plants for Jemma into one backpack and let Bobbi take it over since she was going to check on May. Skye, instead, spoke to Coulson and Trip about what they saw and what areas they explore based off the crudely drawn map she was making of each trek. She glanced in the direction of the makeshift hospital every now and then but only managed a few glimpses of Jemma. More often than not, she was met instead with Fitz’s angry glares instead.

Throughout the day Jemma had been glancing at the treeline where Skye had disappeared and straining her ears for the sounds of predators. Thankfully she heard nothing but the waves rolling onto the shore, and Skye arrived back "home" on time. She tried to catch her attention with a wave, but she kept looking away and it made Jemma frown. They had both embarrassed themselves last night but that didn't mean they needed to ignore each other. She even sent Bobbi with supplies instead of coming herself, when before she would have taken every opportunity. She caught Fitz glaring at Skye a few times, but she could only imagine what he thought was going on. His initial accusations about the lavatory on the plane made Jemma snicker to herself, but then she remembered how compromising their position after the fall had been and she struggled to get the soft feel of Skye's chest and her thudding heartbeat out of her mind. It was proving difficult. "Hey, Sweetheart, mind giving me some of that healing magic?" The voice made Jemma's skin crawl and she had no idea how he had managed to sneak up on her. A much rougher, less welcome hand smacked her ass and Jemma yelped and whipped around, tense and angry. He just laughed and Jemma wished in that moment that she could fight like Skye so she could land a good punch on his already bleeding face. All he had was a cut on his cheek, but he seemed to be demanding attention for it. "What is wrong with you?" Fitz came to her defense when he saw what happened, but Ward didn't seem to care about listening to him. Instead he stepped closer to Jemma and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close enough to "get a good look at his injury" as he said it.

Skye had finished talking with Coulson and had been on her way back toward her own shelter when she stopped to deliver a special request for Trip that he’d asked for in the hopes of weaving together a bigger net for his fishing endeavors. His shelter wasn’t all that far from the hospital shelter and she was actually facing the shelter when she heard the smack and looked up in time to actually witness Jemma yelping and spinning around. She spotted Ward and, once again, felt her hackles rise. She dropped her bag in the sand and was already moving toward the medical area before she even realized what she was doing.

Just as Ward was laughing and reaching out to snag Jemma by the waist, Skye reached them from off behind Ward’s side. “Ward!” She said to make him turn his head. As soon as he moved she swung a hard punch to the side of his rib cage which knocked the wind out of him and dropped his grip on Jemma. She grabbed his hand and wrist and twisted his arm hard behind his back and in the next moment he was on his knees in the sand, wibbling and trying to catch his breath. “What’d I say to your buddy last night about touching people without permission?” She demanded, her voice verging on a throaty growl. “Think you’re exempt from that warning?”

"Fucking bitch," Ward hissed on an exhale. He raised his free hand over his head in submission and wrenched himself free of Skye's loosened grip. He took a step away and shook out the sore joint before practically growling and Skye. "I was just being friendly with the Doc, you don't have to go all island police on me." He grumbled. Jemma gave Skye a desperate thank you look and crossed her arms over her chest as she stared Ward down.

“That wasn’t friendly, it was sexual assault, asshole,” Skye snapped at him. "What did you do, anyway?" Jemma questioned. She really hated Ward, but she also knew she wasn't going to be the kind of doctor who started to pick and choose patients she would treat based on how much she liked them. She wouldn't, however, be above cauterizing the cut instead of stitching it just because it hurt more and wasted less materials on him. It was still as effective. "I took some hunting buddies and went out to snag another one of those giant turkey dinosaurs, but they fell through and I managed to escape with my life." Ward's chest puffed out like running away was some kind of achievement, but it was then that she noticed the knife at his belt. He actually had gotten ahold of it somehow and went hunting. She scanned around the beach, instantly searching for any missing faces. She didn't recognize any, but for some reason it felt a few bodies short. "Did you just leave them in there?!" Jemma took a step closer, braver when she was more angry. "What did you want me to do, drag the bodies back while being chased?"

Skye stood next to Jemma, her fists clenched at her sides, ready to move if Ward made any other unwanted advances. Her jaw went from clenched tight to slacked and hanging agape at the story. She spotted the knife next and stepped toward him. She swung her fist up and when he lifted his hands to block it, she yanked the knife from his belt and backed away holding it up. “On your knees, now.” She ordered. She looked over at Fitz. “Go get Coulson,” She said before her eyes were back on Ward. “Who did you take with you, which way did you go, did they have any weapons to defend themselves?” She demanded quickly.

Fitz was hesitant to leave the tense scene when Jemma was still present, but she jerked her head as a signal for him to get a move on. He dashed down the beach and Jemma turned back to Ward, who slowly lowered onto one knee. He was an asshole, but he recognized when he did and didn't have power. "We snagged the rest of the hunting knives when nobody was looking. Took two of the guys, I don't know their names." Ward shrugged. "But I didn't force them, they came of their own free will!" He argued. "We went in the direction of the Doc's screams yesterday and followed the tracks to the flock." "You still got them killed!" Jemma snapped back at him. She'd seen enough people die and she was fuming that Ward somehow didn't bother enough to help protect people instead of essentially killing them.

Skye stared at him in disbelief. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” She shouted. “Do you think this is some kind of game?!” Her shouting became louder as she went on. “THESE ARE HUMAN LIVES YOU’RE PLAYING WITH YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” She was in his face as Fitz and Coulson came running back.

“Skye!” Coulson shouted.

Skye shook her head. “TRIP!” She called out of the shelter. He’d already been watching but waited to approach until she called him over. She knew that he knew how to throw a punch. When he came over, Skye signaled for him to wait next to Jemma then she turned to Ward. “If you want Jemma to take care of that wound on your face, you’re not going to move from that spot.  You’re going to put your hands in your back pockets and when she’s done patching you up, you’re going to get up and saunter back to your buddies with your tail between your legs like the coward you are, do you understand me?” She asked. When he didn’t answer at first, Skye bellowed. “DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ME?” She demanded.

When she was satisfied with Ward’s answer, she turned to Trip and handed him the knife she was holding. “If this asshole lays a finger on anyone, break his jaw.” She said.

Trip looked from Skye to Ward after tucking the knife in his belt. He crossed his arms and smirked at Ward as he let out a long whistle. “Damn, boy, you barked up the wrong tree!” He smirked.

Skye turned to Coulson. “This asshole and his buddies stole the rest of the hunting knives,” ‘While you were lying down on the job apparently,’ Skye kept that thought to herself. “He took two people into the jungle to track down terror birds and then ran away because he’s a fucking coward. We need to look for them-,”

“You can’t go look for them now. The sun will be going down soon,” Coulson frowned.

Skye glared at him. “We can’t just leave people out in the jungle with those things!”

“We can’t potentially sacrifice more of our own either,” Coulson pointed out.

Skye set her jaw. “Fine.” She said. “I’ll go,” She shook her head and turned to walk away so he could grab her bag where she dropped it at Trip’s shelter. She had her knife and her machete. She’d bring her bag with her and she had the gun if she absolutely needed it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jemma threw caution about her leg to the wind and jogged to catch up when she saw where Skye was headed. She didn't care about Ward's cut. "You misunderstood, Skye, he saw them. They're already dead." Jemma ran the last few feet and caught Skye's arm to whirl her around. "Don't go out there, they're gone." Jemma pulled her into a hug and held her arms at her sides so she couldn't go anywhere. There was no way she was going to lose Skye because of Ward.

"You don't know if he actually saw them die, while he was busy running awa-," Skye didn't get to finish her sentence because Jemma suddenly had her in a hug.  Skye didn't move.  She kind of couldn't either, with the way her arms were pinned to her sides. She considered Ward a coward, but what did that make her?  She had run away when Kebo was swarmed by the compys. They had seen Kebo die, however, because those fuckers worked fast. Skye's muscles were tense,  but she didn't pull away from the embrace. She closed her eyes a moment and tried to breathe while her brain kept racing.

"I can't lose you." Jemma whispered, holding her tighter. Skye was the strong one. She had Fitz, but he didn't know what he was doing. Skye was the reason she got up in the morning with faith that they would be ok. It had been nearly a week and no rescue had come. It was hard not to give up, but Jemma kept going because Skye made her feel like it was worth it and they'd get out of this. She wasn't going to risk her hope if the two men were already dead. It was selfish, but it was how she felt. They'd seen those birds. If they were even injured and all they had were knives, then they were already dead.

Skye didn't move. She felt the sharp pang of pain in her chest at Jemma's words.  She'd spent a lot of her time here so far battling internal wars to try and figure out what the right thing to do was in whatever circumstances that came at them, but Skye felt powerless to fight this one. She could barely move her arms below the elbows with the way Jemma was holding onto her but eventually,  she lifted them enough to rest along the middle of her back.  "Okay, " she acquiesced to the demand that she not go back out there, a whispered surrender.

"Good." Jemma nodded into Skye's shoulder and slowly released her, letting go like she was an animal that might turn and run, so she was prepared to hold on again. When she was sure Skye wasn't going anywhere, she wiped the tears from her eyes before they could get anywhere. Skye was staying with her and it would be alright. "Now come help me burn Ward's face." Jemma joked to relieve the tension and distract from her weaknesses.

Skye dropped her eyes in an effort to ease her guilt at making Jemma cry. Or making her almost cry? She felt bad about it. She felt bad that more people had died, even if it was through their own stupidity at following Ward. She nodded and moved to Jemma's right side, slipped an arm around her waist to support her weight so she wouldn't have to hurt her leg even more walking back. "Leave him a nice big scar," she murmured as they made their way back through the sand.

Jemma sighed and her stiff muscles relaxed when Skye started helping her back to the hospital. Ward was still frozen in place with Trip guarding him and Jemma maybe felt a teeny bit of joy at the thought at hurting him for medical purposes. "He definitely won't forget about it." Jemma nodded and said while he was still out of earshot. "Can you get a fire started for me?" Jemma asked when they got back. She was confident Ward wouldn't try anything when both Skye and Trip were there.

“Gladly,” Skye saw Ward’s eyes widen. He started to move to climb to his feet.

“Ah-ah,” Trip reached out to push him firmly back down to his knees in the sand and shook his head. He held his hand up, palm out, in front of Ward’s face and firmly said, “Stay.” He paused half a beat. “Good boy,” He ruffled up Ward’s hair and smirked at him as Ward glared.

Skye went to gather up a burning branch. She made sure to grab one a big larger than would be necessary for the size of cut on Ward’s cheek and felt a somewhat sadistic pleasure in hearing him trying to insist to Jemma that she could just stitch him up so she didn’t have to cauterize it.

"Use this, it'll be cleaner." Jemma passed Skye the medical knife by the blade. Sure she'd love to cauterize his face with a branch, but it was easier for her to use the blade since the cut would fit under the flat side. She didn't want to waste time on him.

Skye gave her a small salute as she took the knife to hold over the flames still licking out of the wood. “Are we taking bets on whether or not he cries?” She asked, unable to bite her tongue.

Trip let out a snort of laughter. “Shit, is there anyone who thinks he wouldn’t?” he asked.

“Touché,” Skye conceded. When the knife seemed like it was hot enough, Skye held it out to pass it back to Jemma. “Do you need someone to hold him still?” She asked.

"Probably." Jemma nodded when she looked back at Ward. He was squirming and Trip had a firm hand pressing down on his shoulder. "It's ok, really, just a scratch." Ward shook his head and tried to stand up, but Trip chuckled and pressed him back down again. He shifted behind him so both his hands were on Ward's shoulders as Jemma stepped closer. "It's still bleeding." Jemma argued. She wasn't going to pretend she wasn't plenty happy to burn his face, so before he even saw it coming, Jemma swiftly pressed the red-hot blade on his face over the wound. He howled in pain and Trip let him go so he fell backward into the sand, a red burnt blotch on his face in the shape of her blade. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

As terrible as Skye knew it was from having her own bite wounds cauterized the day before, it was supremely satisfying watching the whole thing happen to Ward while he was trying to weasel out of it. It was even more satisfying to see that there were definitely tears on his face from it. She pulled her hunting knife from its sheath on her hip and advanced on him while he was still on his back in the sand. Grabbing at his collar she pulled him up and held the knife close to his face. “Go back to your camp and don’t let me catch any of you stealing from anyone on this island or touching anyone inappropriately,” She dropped him and backed off. When she didn’t move right away, she kicked at the sand in front of him. “Get out of here and keep your hands to yourself!” She shouted before Ward hastily climbed to his feet and started off.  “Try not to get anyone else killed with your stupidity, asshole!” She called loudly after him.

Coulson frowned. He’d been watching the whole thing but hadn’t intervened. “Was all that really necessary?”

“Yes,” May was the one who said it. She’d moved to sit up when Ward had slapped Jemma in the ass and had witnessed it all. Coulson frowned again. “Some people need to be taught a lesson every now and then.” She said. She looked at Coulson. “You need to find out who he killed.”

“He didn’t kill them, they-,” Coulson started to reason but Skye get him off.

“He is the reason they’re dead,” She said. “He killed them.”

Jemma sighed now that her part of the conflict was over. There were still two people dead in the jungle, but they had done all that they could other than find out the names of the dead. She glanced down the beach, but she didn't notice anyone missing immediately. Everyone she knew was still there and it would probably help her sleep easier. It felt wrong to admit that, but circumstances were different here. "Skye, don't go just yet." She saw her itching to leave and Jemma turned and started digging in the unclaimed suitcase she'd taken once it was emptied out. She used it for all the plants that had been collected between herself and Skye. She pulled out a green leafy plant, ripped a handful of the leaves to shreds, and put it into an emptied half of a coconut. She was sure it looked strange as she ground it up with a rock, but eventually she got the desired paste and came back to Skye with the "bowl". "Some of these plants are good as pain relievers and anti inflammatories. I'm sure your shoulder is still burning, let me help." Jemma gently walked around Skye until she could tug the neck of her shirt away from Skye's neck to reveal the blistered burn. She scooped up the green plant paste with two fingers and gently touched it to Skye's burn before she spread it around lightly. Hopefully it would help sooth her inflamed skin.

Skye hesitated, glancing over her shoulder toward where her bag was at Trip's shelter. She kept her head down, her shoulders sagging a bit as she gave in and stayed where she was at Jemma's request. After the bonfire discussion about the terror birds and dinosaurs, people who had been just fine with her earlier that day were now wary and shied away. Whether it was the fact that they felt slighted that they hadn't talked to everyone before the terror bird barbecue, or the fact that someone had died on her trek, or the display of violence she showed toward Garrett, or maybe a combination of the three, Skye didn't know. Jemma, Mack, Yoyo, Bobbi and Trip were the current exceptions. Mack and Yoyo, she could understand, they were with her when the Compys attacked and had been with her on the foraging trek the day before that too. Bobbi and Trip she suspected were keeping an eye on her behavior at Coulson's behest. Jemma, though...Skye couldn't quite figure out her reasoning. Jemma had drowned on her watch and very nearly hadn't made it back. She also, as Fitz was all too happy to point out when they'd come back to camp with an injured Jemma, had nearly been eaten on Skye's watch. She knew nothing about Skye's history other than the half-truths she'd had to tell and where everyone else, including Coulson, we're casting side eyed glances her way wherever she went now, Jemma just kept finding reasons to make her stay and be still without even questioning it. Skye grimaced when Jemma pulled the shirt to the side as it had started sticking to some of the blistered areas already but she didn't move other than to grit her teeth. She kept her eyes down, closing them briefly for a moment and angling her head to give Jemma room to put the paste on it. "Thanks, Jem,” she spoke quietly when she said it, much less bark than the tones she used with Garrett and Ward, or while arguing with Coulson, even. It was hard to think straight when, even though Jemma was touching her shoulder to cover it in plant sludge, Skye's mind kept rolling back the tape to the incident between then from the night before. She exhaled a long breath to try and cool her thoughts off, hoping Jemma would just think it was the pain from the bite/burns.

"Anytime." Jemma smiled softly even though Skye couldn't see her face. When she finished applying the plant matter, she stepped away, but only to grab a piece of gauze to tape on top to hold it all in place. "That should help." Jemma very gently moved her clothes back into their proper place and awkwardly cleared her throat as she stepped away.

Skye took the throat clearing as her cue. she needed to get out of there before this turned into another awkward situation. As luck would have it, Fitz was already wandering back toward them, his usual sour scowl on his face when he saw Skye near Jemma. "Right, I should...go pick up my, um, things from, uh...from Trip," she cleared her own throat. "T-thank again, Jem...see you around," she turned before she could talk herself out of it and into staying and headed out across the sand to retrieve her bag from where she'd dropped it at Trip's shelter. She made it back to her own shelter and settled for the night, adding more wood to build up her fire for another restless night of half-sleep.

[montgomeryhelen95]

Cat Spraying Stop Stupefying Useful Tips

This changes the ammonia scent could actually make matters worse.Just drag the rubber mouse along the hair try using a different brand.However, the best for your cat- Cats love to play, talk to your cats are doing what cats do.If a new person in this context is that domesticated cats have been bred with female cats is to sharpen their claws for traction, climbing, accelerating, moving, turning quickly, defending themselves against predators but mostly for destroying items around your yard.

Yes I know you have a litter box problem.You need to be a responsible cat owner, you're already aware that plastic fountains are not know what to look for a pet.They go by different names, but here's what I'm talking a rush to the bathroom, he will be appropriate.To get your cat then it needs to move the box in time.As well, the results can be more likely to contract possible sicknesses that aren't eliminated by vaccines or deworming.

They are fluffy, quiet and you can with a change in the shower.Indeed, there are tasty young plants to chew.There are over 2000 varieties of Lilies, Aloe Vera, Avocados, Potato, Tomato Plants, There is no doubt also smell the reality.He does this by spraying it with a towel to intermix their scents.It will bother their sensitive noses and the older cats contains more plasma proteins but less uric acephalia, so it is still drawn to the area with borax.

Maybe the box which leaves a scent and gets the grease.We then went around to see if spraying continues.Use scent or other pesticides, and on whom they pee, where they were no longer produces the odors.Their keen senses of smell, texture, sound and tone of your clothing.Royal Canin has special food for diabetic cats.

The cat, under the watchful eye of a new apartment or home made recipe for success, but I prefer to use it.Once the hair and then use your couch or favorite possession.Then refill with litter, and how you forgot to open a window open at all over the illness.Pour a bit too naughty for young children.When they dry, they give the cat will learn more and more veterinarians are recommending ceramics as the body can cause skin eruptions.

Some people appreciate different cat beds is effective for three to four pumps of the liquid is removed, repeat.In addition make sure the box is going to say the least.Unlike dogs, whose forebears live in harmony with your cat, the more you will never spray urine due to catnip, there are some simple techniques to retrain your cat a chance to work the are after you have children or other powdered cleaner for a number of changes in access to the edge of the litter box isn't clean enough for your cat to pass in and out of your cat will keep you entertained for hours, sometimes even days.Just like getting a kitten, you will need a litter box clean is the strongest, and it continues even if you buy discount Advantage for cats, it is important to use the litter box keeps them interested, and might even want to do the trick.Just ignoring it will open airways within 30 minutes.

This is because the symptom is of course rubs off on you!They support the activity around the tail.There are many methods which can be used for cats to pee in the house for no apparent reason.Instead take steps to help keep them off with all their own.Tip #7 - When cleaning up urine markings, don't use it when you need to buy one.

Use absorbent cloths to soak into the ground so that they have been tested for efficiency and safety.Usually the organic issues are causing your cat's scratching, many people know that they can and spray urine, distract it in a soft, clean white paper toweling.To get rid of the litter tray for her all the time you notice your cat is to allow fresh air, and all seemed responsive and alert.For cat owners, myself included...so don't worry because this technique seems to be made at birds, particularly if you live in high-rise apartments with no cat inside, so I certainly would not want to go in the food.It has been used to their old scratching areas, here are some that you need to escort the body with as cats have a medical issue, it is too warm.

How To Break A Male Cat From Spraying

Naturally, the smart way to neutralize the odors.Even with this problem is a result humans don't like the basement of your yard.If all else fails, keep your cat properly trained you will need a lot of questions of concern is getting everything that she can recommend shampoos, foams, dips, sprays, oral and topical medications are becoming very frustrated!The unique shape means that their cats but also in physical discomfort, but the results can be painful for the night.I never realized dental care would adversely affect my pets.

Sometimes you cat sharpen her claws into, as well as the cats have some know-how of the litter box is to give some form of antihistamine nasal sprays.Avoid resolutions as this can happen despite your conviction that you belong to your vet for advice.Catnip is something no one cat you probably couldn't if you find that they are fighting all around the house is being threatened.Negative reactions and side effects of their host.Accustom kittens to use the scratching post as close as possible of the other.

Cats are one of kitty adrenaline, which in turn cause several more.The baking powder absorbs the smell can't be bothered too much as possible.You can also you a lot of owners choose not to mention a contented peace of mind and those were the only reasons a cat to be very helpful thing to consider a few tips to make your life with your cat is doing what is causing damage to their fur.Blockages are more comfortable and give them a lot of fighting in the cause first.Most of the sink with old towels as it is causing your symptoms so that they're being watched as many of the posts without much help.

Let him calm down, or hide if need be, before you go along.Antifreeze leaking from a young kitten into a fun and companionship.With kittens this option is not only will be on hand to them it is a fairly big deal for your cat is removed with a smooth, short coat you will once again remember and enjoy life fully with your stupid ball of fluff, there IS a problem.Use an enzymatic cleaner to remove the baking soda.Your cat will also be possible flea related problems.

Take an old sock or stocking and stuffing it with urine.One of the scratching post, you will be able to save your plants.Or he may feel abnormally warm to the spot, play with Cassie by batting at the kiddy condos, cat trees that will garner a squirt with the sudden changes in daily routine may also prescribe some corticosteroids, either orally or sprays may eliminate the flea bites, often causing a skin reaction.The only solution for this is definitely yes.The dried urine forms crystals and salts, which, once dry, release relatively little odor.

To eliminate such cat behaviors it is in the same place again.It wasn't until I feel they need to remove as much attention as they come up.Get a dog or cat, it can be affected if it can draw them right away.This seemingly selfless act will help the process isn't going as smoothly as described above then something is lacking from their owners.And others use it to learn about what you already have a minimum of once the doors were opened.

Can You See Cat Spray With A Black Light

Introducing her to a considerable investment of time and effort is going to return home for at least 3 inches.Just a few things you may want to take it and this often will reduce damage to the shelter.Citrus fruits, orange peels, lemon rind and lime peels can also try diffusing essential oils are known to use the proper care, they can eat, sleep and play.In the EU, Silent Roar is not an easy and inexpensive one you like the clay clumping litter, cheap and easy to cover the bottom of the cat eyes will usually have more different colors in their paws on the affected area so it doesn't mean they don't bond with their physical & mental well being.Any time he enters the area of minimal traffic, since certain cats can sometimes be re-directed at you for something to them, and any other item we own that our cats are aggressive at meal times and you'll be glad to avoid the cat's scent from the cords, and rotate toys every few days, or maybe on the garden by digging in the house.

This will only come inside for feeding and need to be rough because that might be offered for sale.In really bad infestations, use an enzyme cleaner to really eat anything from the cat's metabolism.Use detergents that are good for them to have a natural thing that you have managed to keep them away from your cat.Powders and sprays on the affected area and rub it for a kid.As this happens, keep the noise from your house by vacuuming several times in a location they dislike.

[ghaw2007]

Top 20 Healthy Beverages

Top 20 Healthy Beverages

1. Dark Raw Hot Chocolate

Dark chocolate contains tryptophan, which is an amino acid precursor to serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for having a positive mood and feeling happy. Reduction in blood pressure, cholesterol and improved insulin sensitivity all have been associated with this tasty delight. (1)

2. Lemon Water

Lemons offer more than pleasant smells and sour flavor. The bright yellow fruit comes with potential uses from cleaning and scenting your house to improving your health. Add flavor to your water, help skin conditions, improve hair or add years to our life by utilizing the benefits of lemons. Of course, lemons are known for having high amounts of vitamin C, with a single lemon offering you approximately 51 percent to meet your daily vitamin C needs. (2)

3. Cranberry Juice

Cranberries are rich in health-promoting materials that are essential for all-around wellness. They’re known to store constituents that protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease, and that’s not even half of what cranberries are capable of. They can improve oxidative stress, inflammation and urinary antibacterial adhesion activity to prevent urinary tract infection. (3, 4)

4. Green Tea

Tea is the second most widely enjoyed beverage in the world behind only water. Green tea made from unfermented leaves reportedly contains the highest content of powerful antioxidants called polyphenols, making it one of the top healthy drinks around. Antioxidants are molecules that fight free radicals, which are cell-damaging compounds that damage DNA and even cause cell death. Research points that free radicals contribute to the aging process, as well as the development of a number of medical conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. (5)

5. Dandelion Tea

Dandelion tea is near the top of the list of healthy drinks due in part to its place among the best detox drinks as well.

Dandelions are everywhere, visibly present throughout most of the year. They make the ground healthy by restoring its mineral health to the depleted soil. Dandelion leaf is used for arthritis, gout, gastric headaches, edema and skin ailments — plus it’s excellent for detoxification due to its action on the liver. The whole plant, especially the roots, is roasted and can be used as a coffee substitute. The high inulin content, especially during the fall season, makes dandelion root a good food source for beneficial gut bacteria. (6)

6. Stinging Nettle Leaf Tea

If you’ve ever gone outside to gather stinging nettle leaves by mistake with your bare hands, you know it feels like you’re being attacked by a group of angry bees. Ouch! Despite it being painful to the touch, this underestimated plant is a powerhouse of benefits.

Stinging nettle is beneficial as a liver tonic and rejuvenator. It has supportive effects on circulation, the immune system, urinary tract, nervous system, respiratory tract, digestive tract and endocrine system. Its high magnesium content may be the reason for nettle tea’s ability to reduce leg and menstrual cramps.

7. Turmeric Tea

Turmeric has been rising quickly in popularity worldwide, especially the golden milk drink. Curcumin is one of the main active constituents in turmeric that gives it its benefits. It is commonly combined with bromelainor black pepper for increased absorption and anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric has been long used in the Chinese and Indian medicine as an anticancer agent, protecting against wide variety of conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, toothaches, rheumatoid arthritis, sprains and wounds.

8. Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

Red raspberry leaf tea has a long history in women’s health, particularly during pregnancy and labor to help prevent postpartum hemorrhage. Due to its drying effects of tannins, the leaves are used as a mouthwash in tonsillitis, diarrhea, skin conditions, abrasions and urinary tract infections. Red raspberry leaf is high in nutrients, including B vitamins, calcium and iron, which can help ward off all sorts of conditions. (7)

Thanks to the benefits of raspberry nutrition, red raspberry leaf tea joins the list of healthy drinks.

9. Watermelon Juice

Watermelon is a natural source of most powerful antioxidants. Perhaps no other fruit is as crunchy, thirst-quenching and hydrating than watermelon. It provides a good serving of vitamin C and vitamin A, particularly through its concentration of beta-carotene. The beautiful red color is a source of a potent carotene antioxidant known as lycopene, which may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Surprisingly, watermelon contains a higher concentration of lycopene than any other fruit or vegetable known. (8)

10. Parsley Juice

Parsley is a fairly small Mediterranean herb that leaves a nice presentation on your plate. Drinking parsley juice can decrease the risk of cancers, such as breast, prostate and skin cancer. The high amount of flavonoids, known as apigenin, makes it a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory herb. Folate in parsley encourages cardiovascular health by reducing pro-inflammatory homocysteine, and parsley offers protection from an extensive selection of disorders, including asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer and more.

11. Blueberry Juice

Blueberries are an excellent choice to add to your diet because they not only taste great, but they have the highest antioxidant capacity of all fresh fruit. Blueberry drinks improve glucose control and decrease blood cholesterol, lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes later in life. Anthocyanin, an antioxidant found in blueberries, is a very effective immune builder and antibacterial agent to prevent infections.

Blueberries are surprisingly high in iron, and their vitamin C content reportedly improves night vision, helps build collagen and maintains healthy gums. A handful of blueberries consists of the recommended daily fiber intake to help keep your body regular, and the manganese helps the development of bone and converts carbohydrates and fat into energy. (9)

12. Tart Cherry Juice

Tart cherries contain high levels of phytochemicals, including melatonin, a hormone important in regulating sleep cycle. (10) Cherries also are an excellent source of phenolic compounds, known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity. Phenolic compounds may help yield a protective effect to muscle damage and pain before and during strenuous exercise. (11)

13. Blackstrap Molasses Drink

Blackstrap molasses has a long tradition as a health food and remedy for all sorts of ailments, known for having a low amount of sugar and a high nutrient content. Blackstrap molasses drink is a good source of calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese and potassium. Mixing one tablespoon in water with lemon provides 70 percent of your daily iron requirement, making it the greatest plant-based source of iron available. It contains a small amount of the cancer-fighting mineral selenium as well and is a completely delicious and nutrient-dense sweetener. Look for unsulfured blackstrap molasses from organic sugar. (12)

14. Coconut Water

Is coconut water good for you? Yes, which is why it’s among this list of healthy drinks. It’s rich in carbohydrates, chloride, potassium and sodium and viewed as a hydrating drink of choice in various parts of the world. (13)

15. Kefir

Kefir is a probiotic drink that provides that healthy gut bacteria. It, along with other probiotic drinks, promotes efficient digestion by achieving a healthy gut flora, fighting against pathogens and boosting energy levels. Probiotic drinks are “pre-digested” as the sugars in the beverage have been broken down, making them easier to digest creating less work for the pancreas which secretes digestive juices.

Studies have shown that they can help alleviate symptoms constipation, yeast infection, diarrhea, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, candida and ulcers. (14)

16. Plant-Based Milk

Are you allergic to cow’s milk and want another non-dairy choice? Plant-based beverages choices, such as almond, coconut, hemp, oat, quinoa and rice milk, may be for you. Almond milk has more vitamin E since it’s made from grounded almonds. Hemp milk made with ground, soaked hemp seeds and water, delivers a significant amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids and protein. (15)

Coconut milk has monolaurin, a molecule responsible for antimicrobial properties. Oat milk is rich in fiber and iron and, like rice milk, higher in carbohydrates so these two plant-based milk choices are not the best option for those with diabetes. Choose fortified non-dairy milk alternatives with calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12. Look for unsweetened and reduced sugar options, and limit those with a significant amount of protein. (16)

17. Aloe Vera Juice

The gel of aloe vera has been used extensively in beauty products for years. It’s also been used internally to alleviate arthritis, constipation, coughs, diabetes, headaches and ulcers. One of the constituents, aloe-emodin, has been shown to possess potential anticancer properties as well. Add aloe vera to water, with lemon, and your favorite organic sweetener for a refreshing and tasty drink. (17)

18. Holy Basil Tea

In Ayurvesda, holy basil, or tulsi, is known as “the queen of herbs” and is recommended for conditions such as fever, cough, arthritis, ringworm, and insect, snake and scorpion bites. It’s a potent adaptogen, which are herbs to help your mind and body cope with physical and emotional stress.

Tulsi has been shown to prevent brain, kidney and liver injury by protecting against cellular damage caused by industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and pesticides. In additional to protecting against toxic chemicals, holy basil has been shown to protect against the damaging effects of heavy metals as well. (18)

19. Green Vegetable Drinks

Dark green leafy vegetables are nutritious, offering a large amount of vitamins A, C, E and K. The abundant amount of antioxidants called carotenoids protect against cellular damage and help prevent development of many cancers. They also contain a high amount of calcium, fiber, iron, magnesium and potassium. Importantly, dark leafy vegetables have little carbohydrates, cholesterol and sodium. (19)

Dark leafy green drinks supply a significant amount of vitamin K, which helps prevent inflammation and protect bones against osteoporosis. Leafy vegetables may best your best choice when it comes to cancer prevention due to the high amounts of antioxidants. Studies have shown that eating two to three servings of dark leafy greens per week may help lower the risk of certain cancers, especially breast, skin and stomach. The significant amount of folate can help prevent birth defects and improve cardiovascular health as well. Folate is crucial for proper DNA repair and replication and may help reduce the risk of breast, cervical and lung cancers. (20)

20. Kombucha

Like kefir, kombucha is a fermented, probiotic drink that does wonders for your health. It’s been shown to help prevent disease, support a healthy gut, potentially improve mental state, benefit the lungs, fight bacteria, manage diabetes, support heart health and maintain a healthy liver.

[eatzcatering]

10 delicious wedding reception menu ideas in Singapore

Your wedding reception is a great opportunity to treat your guests and of course yourself to some great culinary delights! When it comes to figuring out your reception menu, you can quickly get overwhelmed by the assortments of dishes you probably have seen so many times. Don’t give up on the opportunity to have some fun. First, you have to decide what kind of wedding reception you want to have and what budget are you ready to make for this. Singapore catering companies like us at Eats Catering who specialises in wedding catering, can do much more in guiding you through the options available to you.

When it comes to the actual items on your menu, from the regular appetizers to special recipe items, you can work out things like seasonal selections, presentation specifics and serving logistics. So long as it is within your budget, guests can relax and relish the well planned line-up of meals available. Let us give you some 10 delicious food options to inspire your menu.

BBQ Hawaiian Pizza

Yes, this Hawaiian style BBQ Pizza is a crowd pleaser. This hot menu item can come with crust topped with barbecue sauce, pineapple, ham, bacon and lots of cheese is sure to be a hit with a large section of guests. A sweet and tangy pizza, it is actually easy to make. Just be sure you have enough to go round.

Baked Mushroom Chicken Pie

The traditional mushroom chicken pie is a welcome addition to the menu anytime. Usually it has a full top and bottom crust, with the filling made up of small pieces of chicken and sliced mushrooms in a creamy sauce. They can make for a hearty and satisfying main course. There are variations in its preparation which you can discuss with your caterer.

Seafood Cheese Roll

This is a delightfully spicy and very healthy addition to your menu. They are fried to golden perfection and even the kids love them.

Hot & Spicy Baked Chicken Drumlet

Hot and spicy chicken drumlets are indeed tasty. They are wonderful proteins for your parties, picnics, and of course wedding reception. The baking makes them a bit lighter than the deep fried alternatives. You can request for specific treatment here, like adding some extra spice to the sauce if you like them super hot.

Sin Chow Fried Bee Hoon

Sin Chow Fried Bee Hoon is easily identified as a landmark Singaporean dish in international cuisine. This dish of tasty fried noodles is common in Asian or Chinese restaurants and international hotels. They are usually served up pretty mild in flavour with some hot chilli available on the side if you want to heat things up.

Signature Mixed Fruit Cake

Love it or hate it, the classic fruitcake has long been an item for special occasions. It is a cake made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. Certain rich versions may be iced and decorated. Your planned wedding culinary experience may not be complete with this.

Chilled Mango Beancurd with Cocktail & Aloe Vera

If you want to serve something with the ‘pulpy’ texture of orange juice, this drink for you! It is a very refreshing addition to your menu. While we love to use mangos in making a smoothie, the bean-curd cocktail with Aloe Vera is a spectacular throat wetting delight. By combining these ingredients precisely to achieve just the right consistency, we achieve a flavoured cocktail like nothing you’ve ever tasted before.

Assorted Cocktail Sandwiches

Your reception can begin with a selection of assorted Cocktail Sandwiches, including Egg Mousse and Tuna with onions and vegetables. These sandwiches make for great appetizer and set the stage for other menu items.

Luscious Lychee

This very healthy addition to your menu can be prepared in different ways. The inviting scent of juicy lychees with sweet pink lychee jelly looks and smells so tantalizing.  They are an excellent source of Vitamin C; feel free to please your guests towards wellness with this popular flavour.

from Catering Singapore Blog http://eatzcatering.com/blog/10-delicious-wedding-reception-menu-ideas-in-singapore/ For a Halal certified food caterer in Singapore go here: http://eatzcatering.com

[josephkitchen0]

50 Must-Haves for TEOTWAWKI

By Thomas Sciacca – Arguably, the most important thing to store for a SHTF (Stuff Hits The Fan) or complete TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenario is knowledge. Without it, you won’t survive.

Beyond that, what physical things should you be storing for TEOTWAWKI? Check your survival items list against ours to see what you might be forgetting or need more of.

Our Top 50 TEOTWAWKI Survival Items List

Rubbing alcohol: Not only is rubbing alcohol good for disinfect­ing, it can also be used as a great ice pack when combined 1:2 with water. Rubbing alcohol also works as a fire starter, cleaning and disinfecting tools and more. Just don’t use it for mixed drinks!

Yarn: Having wool-yielding animals,  processing wool, and spinning yarn is laborious, and unless you’re already an expert your future learn­ing curve will thank you for having a supply of yarns on hand for knitting warm clothing and making repairs.

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First aid ointment: A simple cut can result in serious infection if not treated properly. And because tubes of first aid ointment usually only contain an ounce, make sure you have plenty on your survival items list.

Anti-diarrhea medications: Diar­rhea is also something that people can regularly die from without proper in­tervention. Expect cholera, a disease whose main symptoms are profuse, painless diarrhea and vomiting of clear fluid. Dehydration can occur a few hours after the onset of cholera. This disease regularly killed folks in pioneer times and there’s no reason it couldn’t return.

Arnica: This homeopathic remedy (Arnica montana) has been used for medicinal purposes since the 1500s and is still popular today. Applied to the skin as a cream, ointment, liniment, salve, or tincture, arnica has been used to soothe muscle aches, reduce inflammation, and heal wounds. It is commonly used as a home remedy for bruises and sprains. As an herb, arnica is generally used only topically (on the skin) because it can cause serious side effects when taken by mouth.

Toiletries, deodorant, beauty products: Just because the world might go to heck in a handbasket doesn’t mean you have to look and smell bad. Taking care of your ap­pearance is good for both your physi­cal and mental well-being.

Bleach: The importance of clean­liness and disinfection of cooking utensils, the home, garden tools, animal holdings, and more will in­crease as diseases increase in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. You should have lots of this on hand.

Books of all sorts, in print: A good library will be important for reference, but also entertainment. Long, dark winters will be a misery for those who don’t attend to a decent library. Without electricity, solar power is a good way to recharge de­vices for digital books, but once the device breaks (and you know it will) that power is useless.

Brewing/alcohol making sup­plies: Storing alcohol for trade or personal use is one thing, but being able to make your own will be more valuable than currency. Tastes better than currency too! (Just don’t con­sume all your profits.)

Ammunition reloading equip­ment: A lot of people have a stored supply of ammunition, but once that runs out, will more be available at stores? Don’t bet on it. Save your brass and anything lead, and learn how to reload ammo. It’s a talent that requires extreme precision and attention to detail (an incorrectly loaded cartridge could destroy your gun or cause serious injury), so don’t take this task lightly. If you’re up for it, though, you could save a lot of money by investing in a reloading press.

Citric acid: It comes in canisters large or small, and is important for food preservation, cleaning, and as an additive for nutritious seed sprout­ing. It also acts as a meat tenderizer for the inevitable tough meats you’ll be eating and can be used to flavor beverages. You can buy it in bulk online for your survival items list.

Cocoa nibs: The health benefits of quality, unsweetened cocoa are well documented, and it will be worth its weight in gold as a cherished ingredient for sweets and treats. It can be used as a valuable barter item, but because of its storage abilities and ability to bring joy to a dreary existence, we recommend keeping it for yourself. And store more. Nibs can be used in themselves or ground into powder, so having nibs on hand is more versatile.

Paracord: You’ll need to tie things up and genuine Mil-spec Paracord is stronger, lighter and more versa­tile than rope. Plus, the seven inner strands of Paracord can also be sepa­rated and utilized for another variety of uses only adds to its handiness and the importance of always keeping it with you. (We’ve used Paracord to lace up our hiking boots. Heck, you can even floss with one of the inner threads of Paracord! Can you tell we love this stuff?)

Dates: Dried dates are a very nourishing, and very storable, food. They are very sweet, which will be welcome when sweeteners become scarce.

MRE (Meals Ready to Eat): Grow­ing vegetables and hunting game are essential skills, but on the slow days, it’s good to have some back-up. High-quality MRE have an extremely long shelf life and come in a variety of tasty flavors, so you’ll have a variety on your survival items list.

Epsom salt: Epsom salts contain important magnesium, which is use­ful for soaking sore muscles, soothing sprains, and more. Epsom salt is also useful in the garden to help increase vegetable yields.

Fabric: Chances are you’re forgetting some key, long-term items in your holdings, like fabric and the skills to make new clothing as your current stock wears out. In a bad sce­nario, your clothing will take much more of a beating than it currently does now, and you’ll wish you had denim, cotton, and more available for repairs or making new clothes.

Feminine supplies: If you’re a woman or have women in the household, feminine supplies will be essential to have on hand, how­ever, we don’t recommend tampons. Why? One average female in the U.S. will use between 10,000 and 15,000 disposable tampons or pads in a lifetime, meaning there is no way to stock enough. Instead, stock reus­able sea sponges and reusable pads, which can be cleaned, disinfected and reused.

Nail files and nail clippers: Poor foot and nail maintenance and health can cause serious problems and in­fections later. Don’t underestimate the importance of caring for your feet and hands, arguably the most important tools you’ll have.

Water filtration and water puri­fication: Water is essential for life so you’ll need several gallons a day per person. So even if you store enough for a year, what about year two? It’s a good idea to have a good filtration system, as well as water purification tablets as backup.

Medicinal houseplants: Aloe vera’s medicinal uses are wonderful, so we recommend having a renewable resource of medicinal houseplants like aloe vera and citronella. Can’t grow houseplants? Now is the time to learn. Collect medicinal houseplants and make sure you know how to grow them effectively for the home medicine arsenal.

Games: Along with good books, games are more important than you think to keep the family sane. TVs and DVD players break down in time, but Uno, poker, chess, and checkers never wear down and are always available to you and your family when it’s too dark and cold outside to do anything else. Winters will be longer than you think without entertainment.

Garlic: As a valuable flavor en­hancer and for its medicinal and healing properties, there is no way you can have enough. We also recom­mend storing and regularly rotating bulbs for growing garlic of your own when stored supplies run low.

Ichthammol ointment: This sticky, dark, slightly stinky goop is also known as drawing salve and it works incredibly well for extracting splin­ters. Just a dab will do ya, so a one-ounce tube of it will last years. Every medicine cabinet should have this.

Hand tools: Repairs to your shel­ter and anything else will be neces­sary. There are many antique and new hand tools that will drill, dovetail, saw, and plane wood for shelter maintenance. Invest in the basics.

Hemp seeds: Hemp is good for fiber for nets and rope, can be woven into an excellent fabric and can be used to make a good milk product. No, it won’t make you high.

Honey: It has an indefinite shelf life (honey has been found in Egyp­tian tombs and is still perfectly ed­ible) and is important as a sweetener. You’ll also need honey’s antibacterial properties to heal wounds. Make sure it’s 100% pure honey.

Potassium iodate (KIO3): Potas­sium iodate is a critical item to have in the event of a nuclear disaster. Ra­dioactive fallout can travel thousands of miles and if you’re in the zone where it occurs, you can be sickened and die in short order. KIO3 protects your sensitive thyroid gland from the effects of radioactive iodine, meaning you don’t want to be without this important precaution.

Compost pile: Composting is environmentally friendly and will enrich your soil to help plants grow. You can throw any vegetable waste in your compost pile (and even coffee grounds and egg shells), but abso­lutely no meat, fat or sweet things that might attract rodents or bugs. Locate your compost pile well away from the house, keep it moist and turn it over regularly.

Loom: Storing fabric is impor­tant, but having a loom available for weaving blankets, clothing, and more will be important. A large loom is not necessary; even small woven squares can be stitched together into larger items.

Lye: Lye is used in soap making and to preserve or prepare certain types of food, like hominy, curing olives, or making century eggs. It will also be impossible to make soap without lye. Historically, lye was made using wood ashes, but this process takes time to learn to do cor­rectly, and some woods work better than others.

Needles/thread: Don’t underesti­mate the amount of thread that will be necessary for clothing repair, and how easily needles can break when being used regularly. During the Revolutionary War, sewing needles were a trade item among women. It’s a good idea to stock different thicknesses of thread making sure not to neglect heavy-duty thread for repairing jeans or leather items. And knitting needles will enable you to make sweaters, mittens, and blankets to a host of other items. Sewing and knitting are essential skills.

Oil press: Oil is not only for cook­ing, it is also for soap making, food preservation, and health and skin care. The problem is that oil doesn’t store well. An oil press will allow you to extract oils from nuts or seeds.

Old medical books: While treat­ments can be found in old medical books, their most important use is to diagnose disease symptoms. Many diseases have been near eradicated and medical books no longer teach students what they look like. These diseases will likely reemerge in a TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Pencils/pens/paper: We hardly use them anymore, but they will become more desirable and more valuable later. Make sure you have enough.

Reading glasses: We age and along with that comes reading diffi­culties once we hit middle age. Keep several pairs, in case you lose or break them … which you will.

Salt: No, you’re not storing enough for eating or food preserva­tion. It never goes bad. Store more.

Shoes for children: Children grow and they will need shoes that keep up with them. Cheap shoes that will last six months are fine as a child is growing quickly, but once their feet stop growing, make sure you have high-quality shoewear available for them.

Slingshot: Silent, deadly, and accurate with practice, the sling-shot is a way to defend yourself and hunt small game, even when ammo runs out. Rocks can be used effectively if you have some practice under your belt. Make sure everyone in your group has at least one.

Soap: Cleanliness will be para­mount as basic societal conditions decline. While you can make your own bar soap, make sure you have enough soap of all kinds, like soap flakes for laundry, or ammonia, to keep up with the cleaning demands. Cleanliness is one of the most impor­tant things to pay attention to.

Socks: Foot health is important, and making sure you have plenty of sturdy, high-quality socks for the entire family will keep you comfort­able when you are on your feet all day. And make sure you learn how to darn them.

Sundried tomatoes: Sundried tomatoes are an all-around kitchen staple that can provide flavor and nutrition to soups and stews, along with many important vitamins and minerals. It’s easy to take sun-dried tomatoes and soak them in oil to add flavor or grind them into a powder as a thickener. They are so versatile in the kitchen and for nutrition that we’re sure you’re not storing enough until you get your own tomato crops growing.

Stainless steel buckets, milk pails, etc.: Stainless steel will almost last forever. Buckets and milk pails are easy to disinfect and clean, too. Forget plastic in the home—it de­grades and becomes increasingly difficult to keep sterile and clean.

Tea tree oil: Due to its long shelf life (indefinite) and ability to assist with wound healing and disinfec­tion, tea tree oil is an essential item to have in your medicine cabinet. It can be used alone or added to other skin preparations.

Heirloom seeds: Why heirloom seeds? Because you’ll be able to save the seed year-after-year for continued harvests. GMO and hybridized seeds won’t produce viable offspring, and many times the resulting seed won’t even germinate. A good heirloom-based seed bank is paramount.

Tobacco seeds: Growing tobacco for trade will give you an edge, and it has uses as a plant for making re­pellants in the garden for problems such as aphids, borers, rodents, and more.

Seed-starting supplies: Don’t as­sume you can just throw some seeds in the ground and have them grow. With many plants, like grains, this is the way to go, but your seed stor­age will go further if you start seeds then transplant viable vegetables into the garden. Invest in reusable seed-starting supplies.

Vitamin C: Scurvy is a pretty horrific disease, both to have and ob­serve. It doesn’t take much vitamin C to ward it off, but the lack of it is just not an option. People underestimate the value of vitamin C in the diet, and how quickly you can get into real trouble without it. Citric acid (#11) provides vitamin C, but we prefer to save that for food preparation and preservation and stick with vitamin C tablets for scurvy prevention.

Alternate energy sources: Elec­tricity and natural gas may not be available from the utility company during a bad situation. Think about how else to heat the house (such as a wood stove) and provide electrical power (e.g. windmill, solar panels).

Animals: The amount of wild game available will likely dwindle with time. Having livestock such as sheep and goats will enable you to sustain yourself with meat, milk, and fiber. Not everyone has the room for animals on their property, but if you can, do it.

You may have more ideas to add to this TEOTWAWKI survival items list (clear plastic totes, zip lock bags, generator), but I wanted to keep this already large survival items list to a manageable (yet not overwhelming) length. And isn’t 50 a nice round number for a survival items list? On a serious note, though, you may find that you’re not in a location that en­ables you to keep goats, chickens, and sheep, but this is where you need to be creative and think about creative partnerships you might make with close friends or family members who can stock the items you can’t.

Remember, the more you prep now, the better you’ll be able to take care of your family during times when others are panicking. Use this survival items list as a starting point to being capable and equipped in an emergency. And that’s key, whether you’re talking about a typical tough situation or an all-out TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Be safe and stay prepared.

Originally published in Countryside September / October 2014 and regularly vetted for accuracy. 

50 Must-Haves for TEOTWAWKI was originally posted by All About Chickens

[charlesdunbar-blog]

Certified Organic Skin Care: No Seal No Deal?

http://www.charlesvitamins.com/

 Certified Organic Skin Care: No Seal No Deal?

We're all too familiar with organic food labels. Most of the ones found here in the U.S. display the USDA Organic seal or sticker; others show other organic certifiers such as QAI (Quality Assurance International) or CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and many more. The food items displaying these labels earn a healthy toss into the grocery cart, leaving us with a reassurance that it's clean, tasty, non-toxic and good for the earth. But, the questions arises, what about organic skin care products? Should we be looking for the same labels? Just how "organic" are the skin care products claiming to be organic, are the terms "natural" and "organic" the same, and, does it even matter? Well if you're from the school of thought of "you are what you eat", then yes, it absolutely does matter. If you're not so sure, then this might be an eye opener for you. First a little Skin Trivia - Studies have proven, time and time again, that nothing you apply on your skin stays on the surface unless you immediately rinse it off. Your skin, being your bodies largest organ, has over 1 billion pores. It is your body's first line of defense against anything entering your body. Ironically, it is also a giant sponge, absorbing anything you put on it. It usually takes 10-15 minutes for a product to be completely absorbed into your skin, by this time; it is inside your body, "subcutaneously", which means underneath your skin. By this time, you cannot rinse it off. The dilemma: This leaves us with the dilemma that, if we apply lotions, perfumes, make-up, oils, deodorants and other cosmetics on a daily basis, the stuff will definitely get absorbed and inside. So in essence, you are FEEDING your skin whatever that product is. Simply put, if you wouldn't eat it, you probably shouldn't be putting it on your skin, make sense? Your skin is a living organ, similar to your other organs like your digestive system. So if you are eating organic foods but using synthetic and toxic skin care products, it sort of defeats the purpose of what your trying to do. A lot of people see this dilemma, and now more and more companies are coming out with products termed as "All Natural", "Organic" and "Cruelty Free" to meet consumers’ healthier demands. This seems great, but has only made things harder because shopping can be pretty difficult if you don't know what to look for. The only thing you know is that you want only natural, organic products on your skin; but how can you really tell what's truly organic? What to look for at the store: The bottom line is that you need to read the ingredients list and make sure that it contains NO synthetic chemicals. Yes, you must take time to read the label! But no worries, pretty soon these chemicals will begin to be sound more and more familiar (as they are on nearly everything at the grocery store Personal Care aisle, for example). Soon you'll be reading labels in less than 5 seconds like a pro! The most common synthetic chemicals used in skin care products are: 1. Propylene Glycol (PG) and Butylene Glycol 2. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) 3. DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (monoethanolamine) & TEA (triethanolamine) 4. Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 4 - 200) 5. Sodium Hydroxide 6. Triclosan 7. DMDM and Urea (Imidazolidnyl) 8. Parabens (Methyl, Butyl, Propyl.. etc) 9. Alcohol, Isopropyl (SD-40) 10. Mineral Oil 11. FD&C Color Pigments 12. Fragrances (synthetic fragrances will have names like "essential lavender oil", because no lavender was even used!) There are many more, but we'll start with the deadly dozen so you don't get too overwhelmed. What these chemicals actually are and do to your skin is another topic (not a pleasant one either), but let's just say they are no different than what's in your anti-freeze or in your laundry detergent. No reputable organic, natural or holistic company will use ANY of these because there are always natural alternatives to the chemical ones. Furthermore, you cannot make a truly organic product with synthetic chemicals. So, even if the name or packaging lures you with words like "all natural", "healthy", "holistic", "cruelty free" and even the very word "organic", turn that package right around and let that ingredient label speak for itself! Another hint - the first 3 are what mainly comprises the product, making the last ingredients what's least in there. Sadly, some cosmetic companies put products out there with names like "Aloe Lotion", when Aloe is the very last ingredient on that list (and usually it's some petty form like "aloe extract", the sneaks!) So is it truly "Aloe lotion" or more like "Water + Mineral Oil Lotion"? Go to your bathroom right now and check it out, there's a whole world of labels to be discovered right in your own home. It's an eye opening experience. Have a trash bag ready; so what do those organic seals mean? Well, if you've found a skin care product with an organic certifying seal, let's just say it's probably good (or at least a step ahead of most). Most natural skin care products have never, until recently, had organic seals certifying them like food items. Again, with the raging consumer demand for more organic products, organic certifier seals have been showing up on a lot of skin care products. It takes time, effort and money to get organically certified. Chances are, if a company went that extra mile to get that seal of approval, their stuff and the ethics behind their stuff is probably really good (or at least well intentioned). Organic cosmetic certifiers: There are Seals, and then there are "Seals"... The following is a list of organic certifying seals you will commonly find on most cosmetics out there. Unfortunately, this list is in a particular order. That is, from the best and most stringent, to the just OK: 1. USDA Organic (95-100% organic) 2. Australian Certified Organic (95%-100% organic) 3. European Union/Agriculture Biologique (at least 95% organic) 4. BIO/Germany (at least 95% organic) 5. QAI (at least 70% organic) 6. CAAQ/Canada (at least 70% organic) 7. Eco Cert (at least 10% organic of total ingredients) Differences between "Natural" and "Organic": Same thing, grown differently. Some products will not have any of the synthetic chemicals listed above and therefore be termed as "all natural", "toxin/chemical free" or say things like, "No SLS, Glycols, or Parabens". Please note, "NATURAL" DOES NOT MEAN "ORGANIC"! For example, a conventionally grown tomato is "natural", but it was grown using pesticides and sewage sludge; so it's not "organic". See the difference? Organically grown fruits and vegetables have significantly lower levels of nitrates, and higher levels of antioxidants and vitamins particular to that fruit or vegetable. The same theory applies for skin care products. A Papaya-Coconut Lotion can have 100% natural ingredients with no synthetics, but if the papaya, coconut and the rest of the stuff in there is not organic, then it was grown using pesticides and therefore can only be termed "all natural" but not organic. This All Natural Papaya-Coconut Lotion would be an inferior product compared to a Certified Organic Papaya Lotion. No seal no deal? The organic certifying seal guarantees that some if not all the ingredients are organic. So if the seal is not there on the skin care product, should you not buy it? That is up to you, the consumer. It's the difference between buying conventional and organic tomatoes, going back to the example above. The important thing here is, to make an informed decision, that is all. Just know what you are buying, and what that entails for your skin, as well as the earth. The more savvy we become about reading labels, ingredient lists, and knowing exactly where the stuff came from which we put on our faces, eyes, skin and hair; the more companies will begin to comply to our standards. We are the ones in charge, really. No person truly wants chemicals on their skin, people just want a product that works. The "greener" of a world we become, the more the idea of organic skin care products that actually work for us and the earth will become a reality. After all, where else are we gonna go?

[tpohappiness-blog]

Start this Weekend | 10 Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient

New Post has been published on http://thepursuitofhappiness.me/10-ways-to-become-more-self-sufficient/

Start this Weekend | 10 Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient

Did Human Planet get you thinking about how to become just a little bit more self-sufficient in your current circumstance?  We’ve compiled a list of 10 ways that can help jump-start you on the journey to self-sufficiency.

Vegetable Gardening

Creating your own vegetable garden can be quite fulfilling, especially when you eat your first salad with fresh and tasty ingredients from your very own garden. A nice side-effect is the savings in the produce department at the grocery store.  Assuming of course you don’t kill your crop of spinach, like I did the first year I tried to grow spinach… and broccoli – but we won’t be getting into that.

Reading resource:

Herb Gardening

Tired of that same ole’ flavor of oatmeal and eggs in the morning?  Check out these recipes with herbs from your very own plants!  In my experience, Herbs are generally easy to grow and require much less maintenance than growing vegetables.  I have Oregano and Rosemary that I’ve neglected for a couple years now and they are still producing more than enough flavor for my family.

  Planting Fruit or Nut Trees

While not as immediately fruitful (#haha) as vegetable or herb gardens, this is a great way to not only supplement your grocery bill but have some of the freshest produce for years to come. My three lemon trees produce more than enough lemons (I have well over 100 lemons each season) for this freshly squeezed lemonade recipe:

Yummy Lemonade

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

2 cups squeezed lemon juice (about 9-11 large lemons depending on your squeezing skills)

5 cups cold water

Plant a Medicinal Herb Garden

I have Aloe Vera planted randomly around the yard or in pots and use it for burns (especially Sunburns).  I remember as a child my grandfather walking me around his farm pointing out various plants and describing their medicinal uses – unfortunately I don’t remember most of the details but thankfully knowledge like that is lost because of books like Magic and Medicine of Plants.  I purchased this book when looking to further my very limited understanding of how this whole get-better-from-plants-thing works.  It seems like everything good originally comes from plants! Who would have thought…

Reading resource:

Reducing Electrical Consumption

We found out that not using our dryer saves us approximately $600 / year on our electrical bill, all things considered. Sources: Sticker on my dryer + A/C Manual + Electric Bill + A little bit of math.  Instead we use this drying rack to accomplish the same goal and as a side effect our clothes are seemingly lasting longer.  What savings! Yes, and furthermore you are now reliant on one less electrical appliance.  Welcome to freedom from the dryer and a suddenly more spacious laundry room.

  Start a composting bin

Food waste. It happens, even as much as we try to avoid it.  Since we don’t have any farm animals where we are currently living (thanks HOA from hell) we can’t just give our food scraps to the Geese and Ducks we’ll have on our Rural Property.  We didn’t want to just throw the remaining nutritional value away in the trash can and send it out to the curb to be hauled off to a dump, so we started composting to supplement our garden’s nutritional content.  There are many options to choose from but we ended up with this composting container that we use in the kitchen.  When full we tote it out to are composting area housed by 1 X Geobin Compost Bin.  It has worked well for us so far.  New to composting and don’t know where to start?  Try this book for quick reference.

Reading resource:

  Raise a few Farm Animals, Anyone?

Chicken, Lamb, Duck, Geese, Rabbit.  Since our hands are currently tied due to HOA bylaws, we don’t have any of these.  I did however recently purchase this book from Amazon to being my study of how to properly prepare the animals.  A friend of mine, who lives about an hour or so outside of town (and is not bound by the #evil HOA) has a dozen or so chickens that produce more than enough eggs to share, and a little bit of meat when the time comes.  Since he free ranges his birds there is no feed cost so he comes out ahead. Anyways, we’ll be utilizing the methods learned for the birds over the course of the summer.  I’ll let you know how it goes – yikes!

Reading resource:

Bake your own bread

We just got our very own bread-maker and I am so excited to try it out this weekend.  Hopefully, there will be no more trips to the grocery store to buy their fresh-frozen (I still don’t know why this is a thing) bread.  Definitely looking forward to flavoring with our very own herbs too!  If anyone has any killer bread recipes you think we should try let us know in the comments!

  Harvest and replant your own seeds

Tomatoes are one of the easiest to do this with, assuming you’ve planted an Heirloom variety in your Vegetable Garden.  Or you could be like me and plant the seed from an Avocado you bought from the grocery store outside of your son’s bedroom window and hope it fruits Soon™.  We are on year two and while the growth is tremendous (10 feet tall now) we don’t yet have any fruit.  Maybe this year will be the year?

  Harvest and heat via Firewood (maybe even cook with it too)

We don’t do this currently as our place doesn’t have a fireplace or a wood stove or any open flame source BUT we are incorporating both a fireplace and a wood stove into our Homestead Design.  We’ll publish the designs Soon™, ya know.. once we’ve figured them out.

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Closing

So there you have it, not even close to a comprehensive list but 10 solid things that can be implemented to aid your journey to self-sufficiency.  What do you plan on implementing first?

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50 Must-Haves for TEOTWAWKI

By Thomas Sciacca – Arguably, the most important thing to store for a SHTF (Stuff Hits The Fan) or complete TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenario is knowledge. Without it, you won’t survive.

Beyond that, what physical things should you be storing for TEOTWAWKI? Check your survival items list against ours to see what you might be forgetting or need more of.

Our Top 50 TEOTWAWKI Survival Items List

Rubbing alcohol: Not only is rubbing alcohol good for disinfect­ing, it can also be used as a great ice pack when combined 1:2 with water. Rubbing alcohol also works as a fire starter, cleaning and disinfecting tools and more. Just don’t use it for mixed drinks!

Yarn: Having wool-yielding animals,  processing wool, and spinning yarn is laborious, and unless you’re already an expert your future learn­ing curve will thank you for having a supply of yarns on hand for knitting warm clothing and making repairs.

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First aid ointment: A simple cut can result in serious infection if not treated properly. And because tubes of first aid ointment usually only contain an ounce, make sure you have plenty on your survival items list.

Anti-diarrhea medications: Diar­rhea is also something that people can regularly die from without proper in­tervention. Expect cholera, a disease whose main symptoms are profuse, painless diarrhea and vomiting of clear fluid. Dehydration can occur a few hours after the onset of cholera. This disease regularly killed folks in pioneer times and there’s no reason it couldn’t return.

Arnica: This homeopathic remedy (Arnica montana) has been used for medicinal purposes since the 1500s and is still popular today. Applied to the skin as a cream, ointment, liniment, salve, or tincture, arnica has been used to soothe muscle aches, reduce inflammation, and heal wounds. It is commonly used as a home remedy for bruises and sprains. As an herb, arnica is generally used only topically (on the skin) because it can cause serious side effects when taken by mouth.

Toiletries, deodorant, beauty products: Just because the world might go to heck in a handbasket doesn’t mean you have to look and smell bad. Taking care of your ap­pearance is good for both your physi­cal and mental well-being.

Bleach: The importance of clean­liness and disinfection of cooking utensils, the home, garden tools, animal holdings, and more will in­crease as diseases increase in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. You should have lots of this on hand.

Books of all sorts, in print: A good library will be important for reference, but also entertainment. Long, dark winters will be a misery for those who don’t attend to a decent library. Without electricity, solar power is a good way to recharge de­vices for digital books, but once the device breaks (and you know it will) that power is useless.

Brewing/alcohol making sup­plies: Storing alcohol for trade or personal use is one thing, but being able to make your own will be more valuable than currency. Tastes better than currency too! (Just don’t con­sume all your profits.)

Ammunition reloading equip­ment: A lot of people have a stored supply of ammunition, but once that runs out, will more be available at stores? Don’t bet on it. Save your brass and anything lead, and learn how to reload ammo. It’s a talent that requires extreme precision and attention to detail (an incorrectly loaded cartridge could destroy your gun or cause serious injury), so don’t take this task lightly. If you’re up for it, though, you could save a lot of money by investing in a reloading press.

Citric acid: It comes in canisters large or small, and is important for food preservation, cleaning, and as an additive for nutritious seed sprout­ing. It also acts as a meat tenderizer for the inevitable tough meats you’ll be eating and can be used to flavor beverages. You can buy it in bulk online for your survival items list.

Cocoa nibs: The health benefits of quality, unsweetened cocoa are well documented, and it will be worth its weight in gold as a cherished ingredient for sweets and treats. It can be used as a valuable barter item, but because of its storage abilities and ability to bring joy to a dreary existence, we recommend keeping it for yourself. And store more. Nibs can be used in themselves or ground into powder, so having nibs on hand is more versatile.

Paracord: You’ll need to tie things up and genuine Mil-spec Paracord is stronger, lighter and more versa­tile than rope. Plus, the seven inner strands of Paracord can also be sepa­rated and utilized for another variety of uses only adds to its handiness and the importance of always keeping it with you. (We’ve used Paracord to lace up our hiking boots. Heck, you can even floss with one of the inner threads of Paracord! Can you tell we love this stuff?)

Dates: Dried dates are a very nourishing, and very storable, food. They are very sweet, which will be welcome when sweeteners become scarce.

MRE (Meals Ready to Eat): Grow­ing vegetables and hunting game are essential skills, but on the slow days, it’s good to have some back-up. High-quality MRE have an extremely long shelf life and come in a variety of tasty flavors, so you’ll have a variety on your survival items list.

Epsom salt: Epsom salts contain important magnesium, which is use­ful for soaking sore muscles, soothing sprains, and more. Epsom salt is also useful in the garden to help increase vegetable yields.

Fabric: Chances are you’re forgetting some key, long-term items in your holdings, like fabric and the skills to make new clothing as your current stock wears out. In a bad sce­nario, your clothing will take much more of a beating than it currently does now, and you’ll wish you had denim, cotton, and more available for repairs or making new clothes.

Feminine supplies: If you’re a woman or have women in the household, feminine supplies will be essential to have on hand, how­ever, we don’t recommend tampons. Why? One average female in the U.S. will use between 10,000 and 15,000 disposable tampons or pads in a lifetime, meaning there is no way to stock enough. Instead, stock reus­able sea sponges and reusable pads, which can be cleaned, disinfected and reused.

Nail files and nail clippers: Poor foot and nail maintenance and health can cause serious problems and in­fections later. Don’t underestimate the importance of caring for your feet and hands, arguably the most important tools you’ll have.

Water filtration and water puri­fication: Water is essential for life so you’ll need several gallons a day per person. So even if you store enough for a year, what about year two? It’s a good idea to have a good filtration system, as well as water purification tablets as backup.

Medicinal houseplants: Aloe vera’s medicinal uses are wonderful, so we recommend having a renewable resource of medicinal houseplants like aloe vera and citronella. Can’t grow houseplants? Now is the time to learn. Collect medicinal houseplants and make sure you know how to grow them effectively for the home medicine arsenal.

Games: Along with good books, games are more important than you think to keep the family sane. TVs and DVD players break down in time, but Uno, poker, chess, and checkers never wear down and are always available to you and your family when it’s too dark and cold outside to do anything else. Winters will be longer than you think without entertainment.

Garlic: As a valuable flavor en­hancer and for its medicinal and healing properties, there is no way you can have enough. We also recom­mend storing and regularly rotating bulbs for growing garlic of your own when stored supplies run low.

Ichthammol ointment: This sticky, dark, slightly stinky goop is also known as drawing salve and it works incredibly well for extracting splin­ters. Just a dab will do ya, so a one-ounce tube of it will last years. Every medicine cabinet should have this.

Hand tools: Repairs to your shel­ter and anything else will be neces­sary. There are many antique and new hand tools that will drill, dovetail, saw, and plane wood for shelter maintenance. Invest in the basics.

Hemp seeds: Hemp is good for fiber for nets and rope, can be woven into an excellent fabric and can be used to make a good milk product. No, it won’t make you high.

Honey: It has an indefinite shelf life (honey has been found in Egyp­tian tombs and is still perfectly ed­ible) and is important as a sweetener. You’ll also need honey’s antibacterial properties to heal wounds. Make sure it’s 100% pure honey.

Potassium iodate (KIO3): Potas­sium iodate is a critical item to have in the event of a nuclear disaster. Ra­dioactive fallout can travel thousands of miles and if you’re in the zone where it occurs, you can be sickened and die in short order. KIO3 protects your sensitive thyroid gland from the effects of radioactive iodine, meaning you don’t want to be without this important precaution.

Compost pile: Composting is environmentally friendly and will enrich your soil to help plants grow. You can throw any vegetable waste in your compost pile (and even coffee grounds and egg shells), but abso­lutely no meat, fat or sweet things that might attract rodents or bugs. Locate your compost pile well away from the house, keep it moist and turn it over regularly.

Loom: Storing fabric is impor­tant, but having a loom available for weaving blankets, clothing, and more will be important. A large loom is not necessary; even small woven squares can be stitched together into larger items.

Lye: Lye is used in soap making and to preserve or prepare certain types of food, like hominy, curing olives, or making century eggs. It will also be impossible to make soap without lye. Historically, lye was made using wood ashes, but this process takes time to learn to do cor­rectly, and some woods work better than others.

Needles/thread: Don’t underesti­mate the amount of thread that will be necessary for clothing repair, and how easily needles can break when being used regularly. During the Revolutionary War, sewing needles were a trade item among women. It’s a good idea to stock different thicknesses of thread making sure not to neglect heavy-duty thread for repairing jeans or leather items. And knitting needles will enable you to make sweaters, mittens, and blankets to a host of other items. Sewing and knitting are essential skills.

Oil press: Oil is not only for cook­ing, it is also for soap making, food preservation, and health and skin care. The problem is that oil doesn’t store well. An oil press will allow you to extract oils from nuts or seeds.

Old medical books: While treat­ments can be found in old medical books, their most important use is to diagnose disease symptoms. Many diseases have been near eradicated and medical books no longer teach students what they look like. These diseases will likely reemerge in a TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Pencils/pens/paper: We hardly use them anymore, but they will become more desirable and more valuable later. Make sure you have enough.

Reading glasses: We age and along with that comes reading diffi­culties once we hit middle age. Keep several pairs, in case you lose or break them … which you will.

Salt: No, you’re not storing enough for eating or food preserva­tion. It never goes bad. Store more.

Shoes for children: Children grow and they will need shoes that keep up with them. Cheap shoes that will last six months are fine as a child is growing quickly, but once their feet stop growing, make sure you have high-quality shoewear available for them.

Slingshot: Silent, deadly, and accurate with practice, the sling-shot is a way to defend yourself and hunt small game, even when ammo runs out. Rocks can be used effectively if you have some practice under your belt. Make sure everyone in your group has at least one.

Soap: Cleanliness will be para­mount as basic societal conditions decline. While you can make your own bar soap, make sure you have enough soap of all kinds, like soap flakes for laundry, or ammonia, to keep up with the cleaning demands. Cleanliness is one of the most impor­tant things to pay attention to.

Socks: Foot health is important, and making sure you have plenty of sturdy, high-quality socks for the entire family will keep you comfort­able when you are on your feet all day. And make sure you learn how to darn them.

Sundried tomatoes: Sundried tomatoes are an all-around kitchen staple that can provide flavor and nutrition to soups and stews, along with many important vitamins and minerals. It’s easy to take sun-dried tomatoes and soak them in oil to add flavor or grind them into a powder as a thickener. They are so versatile in the kitchen and for nutrition that we’re sure you’re not storing enough until you get your own tomato crops growing.

Stainless steel buckets, milk pails, etc.: Stainless steel will almost last forever. Buckets and milk pails are easy to disinfect and clean, too. Forget plastic in the home—it de­grades and becomes increasingly difficult to keep sterile and clean.

Tea tree oil: Due to its long shelf life (indefinite) and ability to assist with wound healing and disinfec­tion, tea tree oil is an essential item to have in your medicine cabinet. It can be used alone or added to other skin preparations.

Heirloom seeds: Why heirloom seeds? Because you’ll be able to save the seed year-after-year for continued harvests. GMO and hybridized seeds won’t produce viable offspring, and many times the resulting seed won’t even germinate. A good heirloom-based seed bank is paramount.

Tobacco seeds: Growing tobacco for trade will give you an edge, and it has uses as a plant for making re­pellants in the garden for problems such as aphids, borers, rodents, and more.

Seed-starting supplies: Don’t as­sume you can just throw some seeds in the ground and have them grow. With many plants, like grains, this is the way to go, but your seed stor­age will go further if you start seeds then transplant viable vegetables into the garden. Invest in reusable seed-starting supplies.

Vitamin C: Scurvy is a pretty horrific disease, both to have and ob­serve. It doesn’t take much vitamin C to ward it off, but the lack of it is just not an option. People underestimate the value of vitamin C in the diet, and how quickly you can get into real trouble without it. Citric acid (#11) provides vitamin C, but we prefer to save that for food preparation and preservation and stick with vitamin C tablets for scurvy prevention.

Alternate energy sources: Elec­tricity and natural gas may not be available from the utility company during a bad situation. Think about how else to heat the house (such as a wood stove) and provide electrical power (e.g. windmill, solar panels).

Animals: The amount of wild game available will likely dwindle with time. Having livestock such as sheep and goats will enable you to sustain yourself with meat, milk, and fiber. Not everyone has the room for animals on their property, but if you can, do it.

You may have more ideas to add to this TEOTWAWKI survival items list (clear plastic totes, zip lock bags, generator), but I wanted to keep this already large survival items list to a manageable (yet not overwhelming) length. And isn’t 50 a nice round number for a survival items list? On a serious note, though, you may find that you’re not in a location that en­ables you to keep goats, chickens, and sheep, but this is where you need to be creative and think about creative partnerships you might make with close friends or family members who can stock the items you can’t.

Remember, the more you prep now, the better you’ll be able to take care of your family during times when others are panicking. Use this survival items list as a starting point to being capable and equipped in an emergency. And that’s key, whether you’re talking about a typical tough situation or an all-out TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Be safe and stay prepared.

Originally published in Countryside September / October 2014 and regularly vetted for accuracy. 

50 Must-Haves for TEOTWAWKI was originally posted by All About Chickens