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nat-writer · 4 years

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Hey, there. I need to say that English it's not my first language. I hope I write it the best I could. Hope you enjoy it!. (Follow me in fanfiction: natydont)

It was a moonless night and she could easily see the stars across the sky. She was leaning on the roof of the base. Her eyes were still sore from crying over the Sonny and Bean murders. Because that was it, homicides. She sighed heavily feeling the urge to cry again, although her eyes were already dry from having done so much during the day. Moblit was concerned, but he knew the difference between the "leave me alone" with a tantrum and the "I need time" when she really didn't feel like talking to anyone. Living in a world full of ignorance, fear and hatred were not easy for her, but she hadn't thought about the bad things that were happening around her for a long time. Indeed, they had just suffered from Titans attacks very recently, but having captured those two 'friends' to study their class had given her a spark of hope. Erwin had also placed her trust in the search for some clue that would lead them to the path of truth. Where the Titans came from and how to kill them.

Her eyes, supposedly already dry from crying, became wet again as the pain in her chest deepened. She could hear her mother's voice in the distance.

You have to live, Zoe.

“Hey, four eyes”.

Hanji held her breath when she heard the voice of the leader of the best squad and looked away from where the voice came to quickly wipe his tears. She wasn't in the mood for him to scold her for crying over Titans, not now, when she thought that with Eren alongside with the possibility of becoming a Titan, she might understand them better and finally have a new clue. Something. Whatever. Why was the world taking away her hopes again?

“Levi, what are you doing up at this time? You should prepare for the expedition of a few days and rest as much as you can” –she said while hiding her voice hoarse from crying.

The shorter young man looked at her, assessing the situation. It was obvious that she had been crying, and from what he had managed to investigate with Moblit, she was being careless. She wasn't eating well and was staying away from groups. Mike was worried too, he had said something that her scent was not the same cheerful that he emanated before.

He decided to ignore the question and sit next to her. Hanji still couldn't see his face, she couldn't, she assumed and feared a reprimand for crying over those two monsters she had named it. If you name a monster, you will immediately feel something for it, he thought to himself. He took out a loaf of bread and placed it on her stomach.

"That Moblit can't keep his mouth shut" the scientist mumbled, taking a small bite.

She was very hungry, but every time she thought that someone inside the cafeteria had finished with her dreams, she would get a lump in her throat and immediately left the place.

“Stop being an idiot and eat well. I'm not your father to be taking care of you”.

“And yet, here you are”.

Hanji smiled at him while Levi looked away. As much as people feared him, she knew what a good and sweet person he was. His coldness was just an iron shell so that nothing and no one could affect him, but; After so many years of knowing each other, the young man had opened up to both, Erwin and her and a little to his squad. She was proud of him, so she patted him on the head that Levi quickly slapped away.

“Fuck you, four fucking eyes, I'm not a child and less a dog, don't do that again unless you want me to break your arm”.

She laughed at that and when she took another bite of the bread, the hunger left again. Her gaze was losing brightness and fatigue was taking hold of her again. He immediately noticed and pursed his lips, concerned. They had killed other Titans, but it had never affected her more than now.

“Hanji”.

“Do you think it's worth it?”

Levi looked at her silently. It was the first time in all this time that she had questioned something like this. She looked so lost and hurt. The boy's chest felt like invisible ropes tightening his heart.

"I mean, it's hard to stay optimistic when your own teammates don't believe in you and decide what's best for them in the short term, instead of thinking ahead." She cackled bitterly.

Her partner didn't know what to say. Was it crazy to experiment with titans? Of course, he thought, especially when the scientist took foolish risks, it seemed like more of a game to her than an investigation, and that used to embitter him when she made dangerous decisions. But it was all worth it when she tormented him with her discoveries or when her hypotheses were correct. She loved what she did and had never cared what other people thought as long as she could investigate.

Hanji clenched her hands on her shirt tightly until her fists lost color on her fingers.

“I know it doesn't make sense to many, then why am I so obsessed with the titans? They are so amazing, but I say that and they look at me like I've lost my mind. Some people are obsessed with power and cause much more damage than the Titans. There are those who enjoy torturing or live at the expense of others. It's true that it is dangerous, I never doubted it for a second. That is why I am the one who takes the most risk. I don't force anyone to stay or agree with me. But I thought my peers and subordinates understood that I was doing it to help humanity. I don't deny that it was also to answer my own questions and understand what is happening around me, but someone had to do it. Someone must take risks. We must learn from them or we will die of our own ignorance. But… But they… Sonny and Bean…”. —Tears began to fall down her cheeks, she smiled looking up at the sky. She was pathetic.

“You're right”.

“Eh?”

Levi's response had surprised her. She watched him in amazement. He was looking at the sky too as he wiped his hands from the dust that was still on the ceiling.

“You know very well what I think. I don't agree with having titans alive, every one of them should die... But you're right, you can't fight an enemy that you hardly know. We know their weakness, yes. However, now that we have Eren with us, we realized that you were always right, Hanji. We don't know anything, we are ignorant. And the only person who can get us out of this problem to know what exactly we are fighting against is you”.

Hanji couldn't believe what she was hearing. Levi, the one who had always been against taking risks to capture Titans. The one who got mad at his inventions. He, who thought he would be the last person to bother him something like that. But there he was, agreeing with her. Not only that, but he was also giving her the responsibility of liberating humanity from ignorance. Her heart felt warm and she rose from the ground to hug him. When she felt that he didn't object, she kissed his cheek gently. She broke away and began to eat the bread like a beast devouring its prey.

“Hey, eat slowly. Didn't anyone teach you manners?”

She laughed and continued eating like nothing. She was happy and had just regained her energy. Levi opened his mouth but closed it quickly again. Hanji realized that and knew what he meant.

“I know it wasn't you, Levi”.

He stared at her in amazement. Sure, it wasn't him, but he could feel the stares. After all, he had made it clear how much he hated risking lives unnecessarily with investigations of these titans. Of course, he was a suspect, so why wasn't she suspicious of him?

"It's easy," she said as if she had read his mind. Hanji took his hand smiling at him- “You would never do anything to harm me, less behind my back... You've always known how much they mean to me, and; As much as you have been against, you've never meddled because you trust what I do, you trust in my work”.

Levi was speechless. How could she read him so easily? Erwin; his closest friend still had a hard time deciphering it a few times. But there she was, this crazy woman, reading him as if it were an open book, easy to read. He squeezed her hand and then raised it and kissed it very gently.

“I swear you'll have justice… He or she won't get away with it. Less when it has made you cry”.

Hanji rested his forehead on Levi's head, smiling. She knew that if he said so, he would never surrender until he fulfilled his oath. He was the person she trusted the most.

#levi x hange #levi and hanji #levihan #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #fanfic #hange zöe #shingeki no kyoujin levi

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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TV’s Most Confusing Episodes From Doctor Who to Westworld

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There has to be some confusion in a TV drama, a procession of things not-yet-understood. That’s the deal: accept temporary bafflement in the expectation that at some point, all will be revealed. Or even if it won’t be, at least there’s a reason it’s been left unsolved, like a Sudoku you’ve got jam on.

Enough, Scrappy-Doo! The TV Dogs Who Need to Chill the F Out

By Alec Bojalad and 3 others

TV’s Most Stressful Episodes From Battlestar Galactica to The Handmaid’s Tale

By Alec Bojalad and 2 others

What doesn’t work is when a TV show that’s supposed to be taking you along with it, leaves you behind. That could be your fault (Did you stay awake? Skip an episode? Were you checking your phone? Was your dog doing that weird thing with the curtains so you had to get up and miss a bit?). Or it could be the fault of a TV show either too ambitious or inaccessible or illogical for comfort. We’ve chosen the episodes that left us scratching our heads; you can judge who’s to blame.

Doctor Who ‘Twice Upon a Time’ (2017)

So named because twice is the minimum number of times you have to watch the 2017 Doctor Who Christmas special before you have the weakest grasp of what’s going on. Considering that most will have only watched it once, and that, from inside a boozy, gravy-based fug, it’s staggering how esoteric this one is – impressively so. As showrunner Steven Moffat’s farewell episode, it’s a distillation of the sort of clever, complicated, ambitious, self-referential writing he’s known for.

There are two Doctors (three if you count the post-Regeneration glimpse of Thirteen), two overlapping Doctor Who stories, a Dalek, an ancestor of The Brigadier, a ship’s pilot made of glass, a moving historical WWI moment and three companions who aren’t really there. (Or are they?) It’s about regret, or reminiscence, or saying goodbye. It’s definitely about something and is doubtless very meaningful and poignant once you crack its shell, but there’s the sense that, unless you’re one of the Who hardcore, it doesn’t really care for you to try. Why be so aloof? It’s Christmas. Let the rest of us play too. LM

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 4 Episode 8 ‘I’m Not the Person I Used to Be’

This was a bold move from a bold show. When Santino Fontana chose to leave Crazy Ex-Girlfriend after his one year contract ended, the character of Greg – assumed by many to be lead Rebecca’s romantic endgame – was written out in early season two. Then in the fourth and final season, Greg returned but this time played by Skylar Astin. Instead of glossing over the casting change and pretending as though nothing had happened (like when, say, Ross’ ex-wife Carol on Friends or mercenary warrior Daario Naharis on Game of Thrones changed faces), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend hit it straight on.

This smart, innovative series had always been filtered through the unreliable perspective of lead Rebecca Bunch (hence the extravagant musical numbers that take place in her head). So when Greg’s character was recast, the show used it to comment on our impressions of other people. ‘I’m Not the Person I Used to Be’ lampshaded New Greg with a psychoanalytical reflection on changing perceptions and personal growth. It was brave. It was innovative. It was admirable. It was… really confusing and distancing. However great Astin was in the role, and however clever the idea was, New Greg was the point at which some Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fans began to peel away from a show clearly unafraid to leave viewers behind. LM

Westworld Season 3 Episode 8 ‘Crisis Theory’

The Westworld season one finale was confusing in a delicious, grinning ‘Oh, you clever devil’ kind of way. The Westworld season two finale was confusing in an exhilarating ‘Blimey. All right then!’ kind of way. The Westworld season three finale was confusing in a way that made you feel like you’d watched the entire Terminator trilogy on fast-forward while downing a 12-pack of Red Bull and trying to rewire the electrics in your house. It wasn’t a good feeling.

I still don’t know which world-dominating AI was which, who was fighting who, what the evil French guy wanted, how many people were secretly Dolores, whether Maeve still only existed in the Matrix, and why Jesse from Breaking Bad was the new Jesus. If free will still exists by the time season four comes, I’m using mine to either get a valium prescription or change channels. LM

Rick and Morty Season 4 Episode 6 ‘Never Ricking Morty’

“Never Ricking Morty” is a particularly divisive episode of Rick and Morty – even at this very website! Some of us loved it, while others weren’t big fans. One thing that’s undeniable, however, is that this midseason 4 episode is the show’s most complicated narrative endeavor yet. “Never Ricking Morty” takes place on a “Story Train,” meaning that the plot initially goes through your typical three-act storytelling structure.

Once Rick and Morty realize where they are, however, Rick understands that the only way out of the Story Train is to reject the conventions of storytelling altogether. This means that any natural storytelling inclination must be resisted. It also means that the show burns through about nine series finales worth of epic nonsense right at the end as Rick and Morty’s “canon” is sucked right out of them. It’s tremendously challenging to watch, much less understand, and the episode wants it that way. – AB

Russian Doll Episode 7 ‘The Way Out’

Like many other Groundhog Day-style “time loop” stories, Netflix’s Russian Doll goes out of its way to establish the “rules” of its sci-fi premise. Every time Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) dies (which happens with disturbing frequency), she returns to the night of her 36th birthday party, washing her face in the bathroom as Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up” plays. That much is easy to understand, and Russian Doll has fun seeing how far it can make Nadia last before perishing and returning to the night in question.

Once she meets another person stuck in a time loop, however, things start to get wacky. Russian Doll’s seventh episode, “The Way Out,” is about as off-the-wall an experience as you’ll find on television. Nadia’s loved ones start to disappear. Then she flashes back to memories of her mother. Before you know it, teeth are bloodily falling out. Russian Doll settles in for a relatively logical ending in its eighth episode, but this penultimate installment is pleasantly incomprehensible. – AB

The Nevers Episode 6 ‘True’

The Nevers’ premise is bold enough to begin with. The HBO series is set in a fictional Victorian era where a select portion of the population (most of them women) have been “Touched” or blessed with supernatural abilities. Apparently, however, bold wasn’t nearly bold enough. The Nevers’ sixth episode, which serves as a de facto season finale due to a COVID production delay, upends everything.

Sky Atlantic’s The Nevers Proves That Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

By Lacy Baugher

The Nevers Part 1 Finale Is The Most Surprising Hour of TV in a Long Time

By Alec Bojalad

This episode begins not in 19th century London like every other installment thus far, but in a far flung dystopian sci-fi future. Earth is barely habitable and humanity is on the ropes. The only possible hope that the human race has left is in the form of a powerful alien species known as the Galanthi. If this all sounds complicated, you don’t even know the half of it. “True” is notable for not holding the audience’s hand through this disorienting experience at all. The episode makes no attempt to tone down its futuristic jargon and it’s not entirely clear what’s even happening until halfway through. By episode’s end, it’s apparent how “True” connects to The Nevers’ original concept, but no one would be blamed for needing multiple rewatches to really get it. – AB

Farscape Season 4 Episode 7 ‘John Quixote’

Let it never be said that Farscape was a TV show afraid to take a big creative swing. In season 4, we get this trippy and confusing episode (written by series star Ben Browder), which sees Crichton and Chiana trapped in a virtual reality game based on the memories of Black-T Crichton (because, yes, this was after the storyline that saw the show’s main character split into two, equally valid humans) and a neural template from Stark. The game is designed to keep C & C trapped in the gameworld until they die so their consciousnesses will be trapped in the virtual reality—wait for it—forever.

This hour of TV actually holds up quite well upon rewatch, probably because it is packed to the brim with clever pop culture references, but an initial watch of this series installment is absolutely bonkers, featuring Aeryn as a southern belle, Rygel as a version of Monty Python’s Black Knight who can shoot fire out of his ass, and D’Argo as a lederhosen-wearing Hansel who, at one point, eats baked beans out of Jool’s intestines. I can only imagine what someone watching this episode out of context would imagine this show is actually about. – KB

Fringe Season 2 Episode 11 ‘Unearthed’

Some episodes of television intentionally challenge the viewer’s ability to interpret what the hell is going on, and some episodes of television are broadcast wildly out of order, seemingly bringing back a character killed off in the previous season for a humdrum monster-of-the-week installment. You may have guessed that I have a specific example in mind for that second category and, if so, you would be right. Written and filmed to be the 21st episode of Fringe’s first season, “Unearthed” was instead recycled to be a mid-season installment in the second season of Fox’s usually pretty great sci-fi drama.

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This might have worked—it’s a basic episode that sees the Fringe team exploring the mystery of a teen girl who is pronounced dead, only to wake up screaming an alphanumeric code while doctors are working to remove her organs—save for the fact that it features a Fringe team member who was killed at the end of the previous season. Honestly, I can laugh about this now, but, at the time, it was jarring and confusing, with the network (Fox, if you were wondering) offering no pre-episode or in-episode explanation offered for why the aforementioned deceased character might be up and walking. For this to happen in an episode that also features a guest character thought dead revealed to be alive is icing on the cake. – KB

The OA Episode 8 ‘Invisible Self’

The OA is one of the most aggressively bizarre shows in Netflix history. Created by and starring Brit Marling, this two-season sci-fi series is fit to bursting with strange, at times difficult-to-comprehend concepts. The storyfollows Marling as Prairie Johnson, a young woman who resurfaces after disappearing – only now she refers to herself as “The OA (or original angel)”. Prairie/The OA recruits several disciples who she promises to take to another dimension. In “Invisible Self”, the final episode of the show’s first season, it all somehow culminates into…well, into this:

Yes, what you’re seeing there is a group full of cult weirdos engaging in an interpretive dance to stop a school shooter. And mostly succeeding! The OA‘s second season gets even stranger in many respects but it’s hard to top the confusing majesty of this first season finale.

Twin Peaks: The Return ‘Part 8’

Legendary filmmaker David Lynch has absolutely no concerns about being dubbed “confusing.” In fact, when it comes to Lynch’s filmography, that’s kind of a feature, not a bug. In-between crafting mind-bending classic films like The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive, however, Lynch took some time to stamp his name into TV history with the surprisingly straight-forward Twin Peaks. Sure, Twin Peaks was frequently abstract and strange throughout its two-season run but it had a coherent plot, which is more than many Lynch movies can claim.

That sense of narrative coherence all ends during a particular episode of the 2017 revival Twin Peaks: The Return. “Part 8” is absolutely bonkers. Episode co-writer Mark Frost described it as “what you might describe as a Twin Peaks origin story, [showing] where this pervasive sense of darkness and evil had come from.” In Frost and Lynch’s world, that sense of darkness comes in forms including but not limited to: the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, oodles of primordial ectoplasmic fluid, a frog/cockroach creature, woodsmen manifesting out of mid-air, and of course: a performance by “The” Nine Inch Nails. It’s one of the most confusing episodes of television in history…and one of the best.

Dark – Every. Single. Episode.

When trying to pinpoint one episode to highlight for this article, Dark fought back and I came to the conclusion that every single episode of German multigenerational sci-fi series Dark is borderline impenetrable. Just when you think you have finally wrapped your head around what’s happening in the small town of Winden, Dark will throw in another layer to this timey-wimey, multiversal story that assures that you, in fact, have no idea what the hell is going on.

That being said, unlike some of the shows on this list, the confusing nature of Dark’s narrative isn’t a bug; it’s an intentional feature. This is a show that asks a lot from its viewers, but gives us satisfying answers in return. And it’s OK if you only ever have half an idea of what’s going on—if that’s the case, you’re doing better than most of Dark’s characters. – KB

The post TV’s Most Confusing Episodes From Doctor Who to Westworld appeared first on Den of Geek.

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pengychan · 7 years

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Te Rerenga Wairua - Ch. 4

Title: Te Rerenga Wairua Summary: Found by the gods drifting at sea, Maui always assumed he had been thrown in it to drown. When that assumption is challenged, there is only one way to find closure: speaking to his long-departed family. But it’s never a smooth sail to the Underworld, and he’ll need help from a friend - plus a token that fell in the claws of an old enemy long ago. Characters: Maui, Moana, Tamatoa Rating: K Prologue and links to all chapters up so far here.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. Here’s a longer chapter than usual to make up for it. I’ll try to keep updates regular from now on, possibly every two weeks.

***

Tamatoa had never been especially fond on the sun.

Yes, it was probably the shiniest thing in existence, but staring at it hurt his eyes and really, what’s the point of being shiny if no one can stand looking at you for more than a few seconds? There wasn’t any, that was it. And even without looking at it there was that annoying glare to deal with, reflecting on water and sand; it was one of the main reasons why Tamatoa hardly ever left his cave during the day, unless it was to do pretty deep underwater.

All in all, he preferred the night a great deal more. Stars were a lot better to look at, too: nice and shiny, but not in a way that made your eyes burn. So, really, short days and long nights seemed a really sweet deal to him.

But of course humans were weird and annoying, and for some reason they also were the apple of Maui’s eye, so obviously he just had to bend the laws of nature over and backwards to please them. It wasn’t the first time he had done it, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. However, as he struggled to hold onto the net where a very angry, very hot, flaming and roaring immortal entity struggled with all its might to break free, Tamatoa knew it would definitely be the last time he would be involved in any of it.

It will be easy, Maui had said. It will be fun, he had said. Just hold onto the net, tire it out a bit, and I’ll handle the rest, he had said, and gone into hiding, to catch the sun by surprise.

Well, the sun sure had been surprised, finding itself trapped in a magical net - was it really magical? ‘Cause, he had only Maui’s word that it was - and now was putting up one hell and a half of a fight to break free.

“Aaagh! Just be still! Be still! Pretty please?” Tamatoa gritted out, struggling to hold onto the net, but of course the sun - Tamanuiterā, Maui had called it - didn’t comply. Tamatoa’s legs skittered over the hard stone ground, digging tracks in it while he desperately tried not to be dragged over the edge of the abyss the sun had risen from, the light so intense it made it hard for him to keep his eyes open at all. And then there was the heat, growing more and more unbearable by the second, making Tamatoa feel like he was about to just be cooked alive.

Unless, of course, Tamanuiterā decided to up the game and just turn him into a heap of smoking ashes. Which was definitely what it would do if Tamatoa let go of it, so dropping the net wasn’t an option at all: he had to hold on and hope that Maui would finally decide to do his part to–

The flaming entity roared again, and gave another jolt that almost, almost threw Tamatoa off the edge and into the flaming pit below. Tamatoa shrieked, throwing all of his weight back to counter and sliding further on the rocky ground despite his efforts. Just another pull like it, and–!

“Maui? I can’t hold on much longer! Now would be a good moment to show up, don’t you think, buddy? Maui? MAU–!”

“CHEE-HOO!”

The scream was barely out of his mouth when another cry rang out, louder than even the sun’s roaring, and something snapped - the net. Tamatoa was thrown back and away from the pit, landing heavily on his shell, his underside terrifyingly exposed. He cried out, lifting his claws to shield himself from a blow that… never came. There were screams and roars, the sounds of a fight, but most of it was lost to Tamatoa: stuck as he was and still half-blinded by the light, be couldn’t see a thing. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the burning sensation and really hoping that, should he come out of that mess alive, he couldn’t end up blinded or–

“GOTCHA!”

Maui’s triumphant cry was what made Tamatoa dare to crack his eyes open to take a look. The sun was up in the sky, but not too high up: holding it in place was Maui’s fishhook. The magical - again, was it really magical? - line attached to it was pulled taut, Maui holding onto it with all of his strength, muscles straining.

“Who is this? Why are you trapping me?” something roared, the voice coming from all directions at once, and it took Tamatoa a moment to realize who must have spoken; he had never wondered whether or not a flaming ball could talk at all, really.

Maui, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised at all. “It’s Maui, demigod of wind and sea! Warrior, trickster, shapeshifter! Have you heard of me? Sure you have!” he yelled, and yanked the rope, causing the deity to be pulled back closer to the ground. “Now listen up, Tamanuiterā! You’re going way too fast in the sky, and that’s no good for humans - so how about you take it slow, huh? So that days last longer? Friendly suggestion there!”

The sun went very still, a noise that sounded a lot like sputtering filling the air. “Is this what you call a friendly suggestion, demigod??”

“Yeah, would hate to be on the receiving end of his suggestions,” Tamatoa muttered, trying and failing to get himself upright. Well, wasn’t that awesome: he had grown too large and heavy to flip himself back on his feet. Great.

Maui laughed, but when he spoke again he was talking to Tamanuiterā. “Hey, at least no one can say I don’t get stuff done. Because I did get my point across, didn’t I, hot stuff? Won’t have to come here and repeat it all over to you again?”

“No. You have made yourself very clear indeed,” the deity grumbled. “Let go of me, if you want me to begin my journey through the sky at all.”

“Oh, sure. There, you’re free. Get going - slowly, got that part?”

No answer was uttered, but it was clearly a yes: as Tamanuiterā lifted itself in the sky, tired and beaten, it was moving a fair deal more slowly than usual. With a loud laugh, Maui let himself fall back on the ground next to Tamatoa.

“Mission accomplished! Hah! You okay, Crabby? That was amazing, wasn’t it? I’ve got to admit you looked pretty cool back there, holding back a giant ball of flames! Goes with your name, huh? If I were the kind of guy who thinks fate is written in the name, I’d say you were born for this!” he added, and gave him a shove powerful enough to flip him right back on his stomach. “What, not saying anything? Why so quiet?”

“You’re never, ever, ever going to drag me into something like this. Ever,” Tamatoa groaned, forcing himself to stand. At least he could do as much, all limbs in working order, but he was rather sure he was gonna feel that for weeks to come. He’d never had to strain himself so much before.

Maui laughed. “What, did you think slowing down the sun was gonna be easy? But we did it! Look! Now days are going to last longer and humans aren’t going to have to do everything in a rush! Isn’t it awesome?” he added, gesturing to the sky with a wave of his hand, the grin on his face so wide it threatened to split it in two.

“Good for them,” Tamatoa said drily. There had been no love lost between him and the few humans he had met. At least he had gotten a pearl out of it, and the thought of it made him feel a bit less grumpy. He was about to ask if he could go home now when Maui suddenly turned back and lifted his arms, puffing out his chest.

“Ah-ha! You’re gonna love this! Look!”

“Look at what?”

“My pecs!”

Tamatoa opened his mouth to point out he had absolutely no interest in his pecs either, but he found himself blinking, taken aback, when something on Maui’s skin shifted. The ink from his tattoos was rearranging itself to show something new. There was Maui, unmistakable, using his hook to hold the sun still, and right next to him… wait a sec…

“Hey, is that… me?”

“Yep! Cool, huh? Hero stuff, and you’re in it! Right here on my skin. I know, I know, it’s a lot to take in - breathe and take it easy, okay?”

Tamatoa wasn’t that ecstatic he’d forget how to breathe, really, but he still had to admit it was rather cool to see himself there among Maui’s tattoos, doing something that really was the stuff legends were made of. He opened his mouth to concede that yes, it wasn’t half bad, but Maui spoke first. He had turned to glance at something towards the west, and the grin had faded into a pensive frown. Which wasn’t something Tamatoa had seen on him often, really. Especially the ‘pensive’ bit.

“Hey, didn’t you mention once that you’ve never been in Lalotai?” he asked, causing Tamatoa to blink. He had probably mentioned it, of course, but he was rather sure it had been a long time ago - maybe even thousand years or so. No less than a few hundred, at any rate, so he was rather surprised Maui remembered that detail at all.

“Never been there, no. Not that I remember. Why do you ask?”

“Because it’s not too far away from here, come to think of it. So, what do you think? Up for a tour of your ancestor’s place? After today, you’ve earned it,” he said, gesturing towards the horizon. “Plus, the fight was fun and all, but I’d still be up to clobber a monster or two.”

“… Huh. Why?”

“What do you mean, why? ‘Cause Lalotai monsters are fun to clobber. That’s why. Also, it’s a hero thing.”

“But I am a monster from Lalotai, too,” Tamatoa pointed out, frowning. He may not have grown up there, but that was where his family had been from and where his egg had hatched, so it felt a lot like he was from there; his Gran saying over and over again that was their real home had probably something to do with it, too. Was he saying that, if they’d met there, beating him up would have been a heroic thing to do?

Unaware of his thoughts, Maui laughed like he had just told some kind of joke and punched his left claw. “Hah! Good one! Of course that doesn’t apply to you. You’re my buddy,” he said lightly, and threw the hook over his shoulder after discarding the rope he had tied to it. “So, are you curious to take a look or not? We’ve got all day now that out friend up there is taking it nice and easy!”

He was curious, really, and he followed him without asking further questions, the conversation soon entirely forgotten about.

Or so they both had thought.

***

“… You really don’t like the sun, do you?”

“What gave it away?”

“You complaining non-stop about it was a good hint.”

Tamatoa scoffed, still squinting against the light. “Just got to get used to it again,” he said. Truth be told, Moana could see why he’d have a hard time adjusting: not much light made it into Lalotai. Some part of it were completely dark, some were left in a sort of half-light, but none of them was anywhere as bright the surface in full sunlight.

“Well, don’t take too long getting used. We’ve got places to be,” Maui said, loading another handful of coconuts on the boat before turning back to them. “For the record, the chicken and the pig are off limits. You’ll be catching your own food. If you can still do that without luring them without shiny crap, that is.”

Actually, Tamatoa still had some shiny trinkets on him: he had placed what was left on his treasure back on his shell before leaving the cave. It wasn’t much, but enough to make one long shiny stripe in the middle of his back, and it did shimmer quite a bit in the sun - enough to attract some fish for sure. “Just so you know, I took down a whale once and I could do it again!” Tamatoa snapped, glaring at him, and paused for a moment before looking down at Moana. “It was actually pretty cool. Would you like me to tell you about it?”

“Maybe another time,” Moana said, then glanced at the boat again, entirely missing the disappointed pout on his face. Come to think of it, her boat was barely the size of one of Tamatoa’s claws. “So. How are you going to come with us? Are you going to swim?”

The giant crab shot her an unimpressed look. “Do I look like I’d float?”

“… Not really.”

“Didn’t think so. And you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

“Are you really going to keep that up for–”

“He’s going to walk,” Maui cut her off, and grinned. “Follow us while walking on the bottom of the ocean like a good little bott–”

“Maui,” Moana cut him off, warningly. Last thing she needed now was for another fight to break out. To her relief, Maui got the hint and dropped the matter with a shrug.

“… Anyway. If he can keep up, he’ll follow us from the bottom of the ocean.”

“Of course I can,” Tamatoa snorted, sounding rather offended. Maui shrugged off his protest.

“Suuure. How long can you hold your breath now? Used to be a decent amount of time.”

It was Tamatoa’s turn to shrug. It was impressive to look at, really: Moana had thought that maybe seeing him in the open would make him seem less of of a giant, but she had been wrong. It was like watching a mountain rising and falling; not quite as impressive as Te Fiti had been, never like it, but still quite a sight. “I can stay without breathing for a whole day now.”

“A whole day as in, a day and night? Or just a day or a night?”

“Huh. Good question,” Tamatoa muttered, reaching to tap his chin with a claw. “A day and a night if I’m at rest, but I’ll be moving, so… probably just the day? Or just the night.”

“Then you’d be fine following us through the day, as long as we stop on an island at night?”

“Yep! Or shallow water - I can make do with that, too.”

“What if we find neither?” Moana asked. Mapping out an itinerary that would allow them to stop on land or shallow waters regularly shouldn’t be too much of a problem, at least according to Maui, but anything could happen out at sea. A bout of bad weather could be enough to throw them off course for hours, or even days.

“Then he drowns,” Maui said lightly.

“HEY!” Tamatoa protested, crossing his claws. “You still need me, you semi-demi-mini-god! Got to tell you if we find the hairpin, remember?”

Maui gave a dramatic sigh. “Way to bring in reality. Ah well. A guy can dream,” he said, then shrugged and held up a hand when Moana rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. Serious answer: if we find no land or shallow waters by night, I’ll turn into a whale and drag this gigantic pain in the butt up to surface to breathe. Pretty sure I can still do it. How does that sound?”

… Can still do it?

“Better than drowning,” was the grudging reply.

“We’ll just agree to disagree on that,” Maui muttered, and reached to hit the drum on the boat. “I’ll be putting this in the water and give it a hit every once in a while, in case the water gets deep and you can’t see us all the way from the bottom,” he added. Thankfully, Tamatoa didn’t seem to quite catch on the way he had stressed out the last word. “You can still pick that up through water and follow, right?”

“Sure I can! Tell me one time I ever got lost!” the giant crab huffed, only to pause and blink as thought a thought had suddenly occurred to him. “… Wait. You’re not going to lead me astray on purpose and then just leave, right?”

“What, to make you drown? Don’t make me laugh. There are more satisfying ways to kill you off. But as we have a deal, or at least as you and the kid do–” Maui trailed off when Moana cleared her throat. Both him and Tamatoa turned to see her staring at them, eyes shifting from one to the other and back, arms crossed over her chest. “… What?”

“I’m going ignore the ‘kid’ part for now. Correct me if I got this wrong, but… you guys have done this before, haven’t you?”

“Not at all!” Maui snapped.

“Well, duh,” Tamatoa muttered.

Moana raised an eyebrow. “I’ll take it as a yes. So the two of you used to travel together?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Duh.”

“You say duh one more time–” Maui began, lifting his hook, but trailed off when Tamatoa snorted and kicked up some sand in his direction, causing him to shout and reach up to shield his face.

“Don’t worry, I’m done talking about old times. You’re the one who won’t shut up,” he grumbled, and gave Moana a passing glance. “Did he tell you how he slowed down the sun? Bet he did. He must have told that story a million times, just minus a detail or two,” he added, and turned his back to both of them. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in the water having breakfast while you get that piece of wood ready to sail.”

Moana watched him get in the water with the grace of a falling tree, the ripples causing the boat to rock violently and both Pua and Heihei to jump on land. She picked up Pua, made sure Heihei wasn’t up to walk to his doom in some crevice, and turned to glance at Maui. He was glaring daggers at Tamatoa, but it wasn’t his expression Moana focused on - it was his tattoos. One of them, really, the one in which Maui was shown slowing down the sun. It looked pretty straightforward - what had Tamatoa been talking about, then? Why had he brought it up?

Before she could ask, or even just wave back at Mini Maui and her own tiny self, Maui snorted and looked away from the water. “Uugh, this guy. At least we won’t have to listen to him while sailing.”

Moana had to admit that sounded like a plus, even though she couldn’t shake off some nervousness at the thought the giant crab would be beneath the boat all along, hidden from sight. Of course she knew he wouldn’t dare attack, especially having nothing to gain from it, but it was still unnerving.

“So… you said we have places to be. That’s great, but… where are we going?” she asked. “Do you really have an idea of where to look?”

“Sort of. It’s called the Vault - not very original, but still. Treasures have a tendency to find their way there - it’s a bit of a magnet for valuable things. Blame the currents, old tales, pirates, magic, whatever. Crabcake took plenty of stuff from there, believe me. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was where he found my old hook, too,” he added, then shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s where his treasure may have winded up, but it’s the best place to start looking. I don’t have better ideas,” he added, and turned to go get the boat ready to sail.

Moana watched him walk away, biting her lower lip. His hair hid one tattoo from sight, the one of his abandonment or perhaps his funeral, but there was another one plain to see on the left side of his back: Maui and Tamatoa at a stony cliff, locked in a vicious struggle.

Make him talk about himself. He loves bragging about how awesome he is.

You two must get along perfectly.

Well, not since I ripped his leg off.

Back then, she’d been too surprised by the casual revelation first and then by Tamatoa simply rising up from beneath her to really give what he had said much thought, but now she couldn’t help but wonder what he had really meant with that since. And, most of all, just what had happened before. Maybe she was just reading too much into things, but–

“Bwoook!”

“Wha– Heihei! No! Come back here! I’m not going to come take you out of a monster’s jaws again, you hear?”

If he heard, Heihei gave no sign of it. Then again, it was to be expected - he was a chicken, and not an especially bright one at that. As she chased after him, Pua in her arms, she failed to realize that Maui had turned to glance back at her for a few seconds before marching towards Tamatoa in quick strides, the hook held tightly in his right fist.

***

“Here, fishy! C’mon, a little closer… just a little bit… thaaat’s right, look at the shiny– OOF!”

“Hey, Crabcake. A word?”

The sudden weight on the back of his neck shifted, and something sharp - not much guesswork was needed to figure out exactly what it had to be - pressed against the vulnerable spot where his neck ended and his shell began. There was no telling how much damage he could caused if he decided to press on, but it would definitely hurt quite a lot. And Tamatoa wasn’t a fan of pain, no sir, not at all.

“Seriously? What do you want from me, man? We can just talk without–”

“Keep your voice down,” Maui hissed. The tip of his hook sunk slightly deeper and Tamatoa had to clench his jaw not to let out a very undignified whimper. “Actually, you know what? Don’t speak at all and listen. Are you listening?”

“Do you see me covering my– ow! Okay! Yes! Listening!”

“Good. Here’s the deal, plain and simple: if she gets hurt, you get hurt.”

… Seriously? “Where’s that coming from? We have a common goal, remember? I have no reason to hurt her! She’s actually better company than you are, if you ask to–”

“Nobody asked you anything,” Maui snapped, but he relented: the painful pressure on the back of his neck eased some. “But as I have seen what happens when a human is unlucky enough to stand in the way when you see any treasure, here’s your official warning. You ignored it once and lost a leg. Next time, it could be a claw, or both. Or your head.”

The smartest thing to do at that point would have been just nodding, saying that yes, he got it all crystal clear. Just say yes, be very still and breathe out a sigh of relief when Maui moved away without maiming him further.

But Tamatoa hardly, if ever, went for the smartest option. So he scowled and turned his head as much as he could, eyestalks poking towards Maui. “You haven’t changed at all, have you? Thousands of years and still the same fixation. No one touches your pets.”

“Humans are not my pets,” Maui bristled. “They’re–”

“Your fans, then. Some difference. It’s eat or be eaten for everyone, but no one touches them because you say so, huh?”

‘Cause Lalotai monsters are fun to clobber. That’s why. Also, it’s a hero thing.

“Don’t give me that! There was no eat or be eaten! You just wanted more treasure and didn’t care who got hurt–” Maui snapped, but Tamatoa had had enough. With a snort, he spun suddenly, causing him to be thrown off him and into the water; an old trick, but it still worked. Maui immediately stood, dripping water and holding up his hook, ready to fend off an attack that didn’t come. Tamatoa was angry, but neither stupid nor suicidal.

“Says the guy who chased after monsters ‘cause it was fun and you looked so amazing doing it,” he snapped instead. “You step all over a giant eel for just being a giant eel doing giant eel things, and you’re a hero. I take some trinkets from humans, sink a few ships, and all hell breaks loose. I was the exception only until you decided I wasn’t anymo–”

“You had been warned to leave them alone,” Maui snarled, cutting him off. “You have no one to blame but yourself. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t ignore my warning again.”

Tamatoa scoffed and turned away. “Fine,” he spat, crossing his claws.

“Fine,” Maui echoed, crossing his arms.

“Fine.”

“FIN–”

“BWAAAAK!”

“What the…?”

They both turned just in time to see the chicken being launched through the air by a geyser, followed after a few moments by the squealing pig and then - of course - the human. All three landed in the sea, splashing up varying amounts of water; moments later the human emerged again, the pig on one shoulder and the chicken on her head.

“We’re all fine!” she called out, waving. Like anyone had asked, Tamatoa would have thought if he wasn’t too busy blinking, wondering exactly what had just happened.

“… I have a few concerns,” he finally said.

“Lucky you. I have more than a few and you are most of them,” Maui muttered, causing Tamatoa to scowl. He was about to point out that of course the feeling was entirely reciprocated, but he fell silent when he realized that something was up in the water: the sea seemed to be shifting around her and then… wait, was it lifting her on the boat? What? How?

Maui seemed to notice his surprise, and grinned. “Oh, right. Just thought I’d mention she’s all buddy-buddy with the Ocean. And she’s the one who took on Te Ka. Slipped my mind.”

“That’s kind of a big thing to slip your mind,” Tamatoa pointed out, unable to look away as the human… did she just high-five the ocean? Yes, that was exactly what it looked like. Tamatoa blinked, mentally noting that staying on her good side would probably be a good idea. But how was he supposed to know that some skinny human would be that well-connected? And powerful enough to take down Te Ka? How could that be? What power was she hiding?

“Not the biggest thing that ever slipped my mind,” Maui was saying. “I was more than happy to let you slip my mind for a thousand of years or so.”

“Oh, har har,” Tamatoa said drily. Maui just shrugged, and turned to walk up to the boat.

“Well, we’re good to go. Try not getting lost, because I really don’t feel like fishing you up.”

Tamatoa scowled at his retreating back, but it melted in a grin when he thought about the hairpin safely tucked away in his carapace. Let him think he was so smart while being played like a fiddle to get him what he wanted; it just made everything more amusing.

“Oh, please. I know the way to the Vault like the back of my claw,” he finally called out. A long time had passed since they had first met, after all. Things had changed. “I never get lost.”

***

“Did we just lose him?”

“Naaah, don’t think so. I’m not so lucky.”

Moana bit her lower lip, her gaze wandering over the waves. The sun had just begun lowering in the sky when they had reached the island and begun settling up for the night. Now it was disappearing at the horizon, the sky streaked orange and purple, some stars already starting to show… and there was still no trace of Tamatoa. Of course most of her concern was due to the fact he really was the only one to know what the hairpin they were after looked like, but to be completely honest, she didn’t really like the thought he might have drowned. He had relied on their directions to reach someplace to come to surface for the night, and they’d had a deal she didn’t mean to break.

“Maui, we need him–”

“I know, I know. Just kidding, honest,” Maui said, lifting his arms. He was sitting next to the campfire he’d built, cracking a coconut open. “Well, mostly kidding. Either way, I’m sure he followed us just fine all the way here and will show up soon. He’s probably stuffing his face on seafood somewhere in the lagoon. And if he doesn’t come out by the time the moon is up, I’ll go looking for him,” he added, holding out half of the coconut for her. “Deal?”

Moana smiled. “Deal,” she said, taking the coconut and sitting on a log, pushing her feet beneath the cooling sand; the sensation was all the more welcome after an entire day of sailing. Next to the log, Pua was already napping. She drank some of the milk, gazing at Maui’s tattoos. Mini Maui and Mini Moana both waved at her, and she returned the wave briefly before clearing her throat, her gaze falling back on the one showing Maui in the process of catching the sun. “Look, I don’t mean to pry…” she began, and Maui raised both eyebrows.

“You know there is no reason to start off like that unless that’s exactly what you’re gonna do, right?”

“Okay, fine. I’m kind of curious,” she admitted, and added nothing more. She was certain that Maui would guess just fine what she was wondering about and, if he decided he didn’t want to talk about it, she wouldn’t ask. As it turned out, she didn’t need to.

“There isn’t much to say. Tamatoa and I used to be friends. Or at least we thought we were, but I’m not so sure anymore. We just did stupid things together. A treasure hunt there, some wrestling here, slowing down the sun… yeah, he was there when that happened,” Maui added, clearly having noticed her surprised expression. He reached to tap on his chest, over the tattoo in which he held the sun still. The cast flickering shadows over it. “He used to be here, too, just like you on the other side. But that was a long time ago.”

And now he’s on your back, Moana thought. The two of you, locked in a fight.

“Then what happened?”

“I tore off his leg.”

Moana raised an eyebrow. “There was a reason for that, right?”

“Nah, just an arm wrestling match gone wrong,” Maui replied, and to his credit he managed to keep up a perfectly serious expression for three whole seconds before snorting out a laugh. “Hah! Yeah, of course there was. Do I look like the kind of guy who’d just go around and tear limbs off monsters for fun?”

Moana opened her mouth.

“… On second thought, don’t answer that.”

Moana closed her mouth, and Maui sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyway. He always had a thing for hoarding treasure, but it wasn’t a problem at first. I liked the treasure hunting part, and he could keep most of what we found. I gave my part of it to humans, of course. Until one day Tamatoa decided he wanted it all, and…” he paused, and glared into the fire. “Things began to happen.”

“What kind of things?”

“Ships going missing, for one. Some disappeared entirely, while others were found shipwrecked. Treasures were stolen from villages. There were talks of monsters that came at night, but I didn’t think for a moment it may be him. Until one day he raided a village in broad daylight. Can you believe he seriously expected me to think it had been another giant monster crab?”

“And you knew it was him?”

“It couldn’t be anyone else. I was rather sure he was the last of his kind to begin with, but when I went to check at his cave - the old one, I mean, you haven’t seen that one - the missing treasures were all there. The big idiot hadn’t even bothered hiding it elsewhere, and at least he realized denying was pointless after some yelling. I was, how should I put this? Slightly annoyed.”

Well, no wonder. Moana could definitely see why he’d be furious, and how it had led to a fight. Providing for humans, and protecting them, was what Maui had been all about. Because he’d needed to be someone’s hero. Because he’d needed to be wanted and wanted to be needed. “And that was when you fought?”

Maui grinned. “Seems pretty obvious, huh? But no. As in, we didn’t trade blows, but we sure yelled a lot. Mostly me, I guess,” he added with a shrug. “I told him - no, no, stay outta the fire, you dumb chicken - that if it were anyone else, I’d have already torn him apart and taken all the treasure back to humans. I warned him that humans were, and would always be, off limits. That if he tried pulling that one more time, he’d be sorry.”

He fell silent, and for a few moments there were no other sounds but the crackle of fire, the waves rolling on the sand, the light breeze among the palm trees. When he spoke again he did so slowly, his voice lower. “He ignored the warning. I made him sorry he did. But just to make it clear,” he added, his voice lighter, “I didn’t go there and rip off his leg while he was snoozing. I was just thinking of beating some sense in his stupid head. I confronted him, he attacked, and that escalated. He thought he could take on me and he was wrong.”

Honestly, Moana wasn’t certain she wanted to imagine what the fight had been like. Maui was incredibly powerful, and Tamatoa terrifyingly big and strong; the potential damage they both could deal was huge. All things considered, losing one leg wasn’t the worst possible outcome by a long shot.

“I see. And he, uh. I assume he’s held a grudge against you ever since?”

Maui raised an eyebrow. “Now, why would you go assuming that? Just because he tried to eat me after reminding me that I had been abandoned at birth, left to either drown or become food for–”

“SHARK!”

“Wha–”

The warning cry wasn’t anything Moana hadn’t heard before: there had been times when she and other villagers had been idly swimming in the shallow waters around the island - not something her father liked them doing, but sometimes the days were too hot for anyone to resist - when somebody had spotted a fin. The cry had been immediately raised, and a mad scramble for the shore had followed. What followed now, however, was a shark landing from the sky on the sand next to them, causing Pua to squeal and bolt off while Heihei dropped down on the ground, stiff as a stick.

Moana moved before she even had time to process how absurd that was: she immediately stood, reaching out to grasp her oar at the same time, and jumped back, the oar held between herself and the shark.

Except that the shark stayed motionless, just as still and stiff as Heihei. Which was normal for her chicken, but for a beached shark… not so much. With a sigh of relief, Moana lowered the oar and turned to see Tamatoa looming only a short distance away, partly in the water and partly on the sandy beach. For a being that huge, he’d been incredibly quiet: Moana hadn’t heard him coming at all. It was kind of unnerving to realize just how easily he could sneak up on them if so he chose, but she had no time to dwell on it.

“Hey! What’s the big idea here?” Maui was protesting, crossing his arms. “Throwing dead sharks at us? Seriously?”

“What now? I got you guys dinner. You just like complaining about everything, don’t you?” Tamatoa said with what looked a lot like a shrug. “Well, whatever. If you don’t want it, your problem. More food for the human. I’m sure she won’t complain,” he added, and looked down at her somewhat expectantly. “Right? It was a good idea. I thought it was a good idea.”

Moana glanced at the shark, and had to admit that well, he wasn’t wrong. The supplies she and Maui had with them weren’t half bad, really, but nothing really beats something juicy and fresh. Plus, it might be best to try their best to be civil as long as they were stuck together, and she supposed that the fact he had gotten them food was an effort from his part, at the very least.

And Maui wouldn’t be able to protect me all the time. Best to make sure he won’t want to eat me even if he gets a chance to.

“It was a great idea,” she said, and gave her best smile. “Thank you.”

Tamatoa’s uncertain expression melted in a grin that was more than just a touch smug. “You’re welcome!”

“Quit stealing my line,” Maui snapped, then looked at her with a frown. “If you said you wanted fish, I could have caught you–”

“Let’s get cooking this!” Moana cut him off, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible, and grabbed the shark’s tail fin to drag it closer to the fire. Hopefully, Tamatoa wouldn’t pick up anything wrong with her tone and Maui would get the not at all subtle message to just leave it be. “Don’t think we can eat it all on our own, though. You’re having some too, right?”

Tamatoa - who had just started to turn back to the ocean - paused and blinked down at her. He looked incredibly confused. “What?”

“You’re… staying to eat, right?”

“I already had a shark for dinner. And a few dolphi– wait, that’s an invitation! Right? Is it an invitation? It sounded like one.”

Moana pasted a wide smile on her face. “Sure! So, stay for the company?”

Please say no. Please go away.

“How about no?” Maui snapped. Unaware of her real thoughts and entirely ignoring Maui’s protest, Tamatoa grinned.

“If you insist,” he said, taking another few steps on the sand before dropping down on it, legs tucked beneath him and claws under his chin. Even so, he towered over them both. “Wouldn’t deny you the pleasure of my company.”

“I’m not pleased,” Maui pointed out.

“That’s a plus,” Tamatoa replied without missing a beat, then looked back at Moana and grinned again. “I always said you’re the smart one.”

***

[Back to Chapter 3]

[On to Chapter 5]

#moana #maui #tamatoa #disney #oceania

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thatcrazyfanfictionwriter · 6 years

Text

Secret of the Sewers: Aliens Among Us

The doors to Galactic Enterprises let out a pneumatic hiss as they opened up, revealing Mr. Mortu to April. He gave a smile and offered her his hand.

"Miss O'Neil." He greeted. "I'm Mr. Mortu. Welcome to Galactic Enterprises."

"Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice." April replied, taking his hand to shake. "Whoa… That's quite a grip you got."

Mortu coughed, releasing April's hand.

"Sorry." he told her. "I sometimes forget my own strength."

"It's alright." April assured him.

"Shall we go on inside?" He asked.

April nodded, following Mortu into the building. From an adjacent rooftop, the turtles watched her go in, Mikey smiling widely.

"The clam is on the escalator." Mikey whispered. "I repeat, the clam is on the escalator."

His brothers all glared at him in a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

"What the shell is that supposed to mean?" Leo demanded.

"April's in the building." Mikey explained.

"Then why didn't you just say that?" Donny asked.

"Because code words are way cooler." Mikey explained.

The other three turtles looked at each other, then shook their heads. Mikey sighed.

"Fine. April's in the building." he groaned. "Party poopers."

…

Inside, Mortu and April made their way deeper into the building. As they walked, April noted a few bandages on Mortu's face, as well as his hands.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Mortu glanced at her in confusion, then seemed to remember his bandages.

"Oh, these." He said softly, coughing a bit. "There was a bit of an accident earlier this morning."

April had a feeling what the 'accident' really was, but didn't feel the need to comment. Instead, she simply let out a cough of her own.

"I see." she muttered. "Umm, I hate to ask this so soon into the interview, but where's your little girl's room?"

Mortu pointed down an adjoining hallway.

"Down that hallway, third door on the right."

April smiled, giving a small bow of thanks before making her way down the hall. Once she was out of sight of Mortu, she quickly leaned up against the wall, fishing for the small little shell Donny had given her.

"Okay, what do I do with this, Don?" she asked.

"Just place it on the floor, and I'll handle the rest." Don answered through the earpiece.

April gently placed the small shell on the ground, then made her way back to Mortu, trusting the guys to know what they were doing.

…

Donny fished into his pockets, pulling out what looked like an old handheld Nintendo. However, it was covered in duct tape and there was clear evidence of tampering on the purple turtle's part.

"Don, is this really the time to be playing video games?" Mikey questioned.

"This isn't a video game, Mikey." Don told him, powering it on. "It's the controller for the new and improved turtle hacker."

The screen came alive, showing the inside of the building from a worm's eye point of view. Pressing a few buttons, the camera began to shift as the turtle hacker sprouted legs and a small camera head as it skittered across the floor.

"I figured this would allow us to get a look inside the facility, as well as keep April out of any real danger." Donny explained.

"Nice thinking." Leo complimented.

"A-thank you." Donny replied. "Now let's find that security room."

Tapping away on the controller, Donny maneuvered the Turtle Hacker down the long hallway. The little device was even able to crawl up the walls, allowing for a better vantage point of the doors and their labels. After a few more minutes of searching, they were able to locate their desired targets.

"Bingo." Don declared.

"Great job, but now we need to get inside." Raph reminded him.

About that time, the door to the security room opened up as a guard walked out, most likely to use the bathroom or something. Donny took the opportunity, launching the turtle hacker off of the wall and through the door frame seconds before the door closed again.

"Alright, we're in." Donny announced. "Now it's time to see if it lives up to the hacker part of its name."

He sent the turtle hacker up the sides of the security terminal, careful to remain out of sight of the remaining guard. The back of the hacker's shell opened, releasing a USB drive that inserted itself into the terminal, allowing Donny access. Tapping the side of the controller, the bottom screen became a keyboard, from which Donny began working his magic.

"Accessing outer security, disabling roof sensors… Got it."

Donny put the controller away as Leo brought out a grapple gun, aiming it at the building. He fired, shooting a line of rope at the roof where it hooked onto the side. After securing it to the building they were on, they began to walk across the rope. After making it about halfway across, Mikey began to whisper to himself.

"A hush falls over the crowd as the Hamato Brothers make their way across the tightrope."

"Mikey, if we weren't a hundred feet in the air, I'd bap you one." Raph hissed.

"What? I joke when I'm under stress." Mikey argued. "You know that."

"Both of you cut it out!" Leo snapped. "We can't afford to get caught."

Silent once more, they made it onto the roof, where Don quickly spotted the security camera.

"No time for the hacker now." He mused. "Gotta act fast."

"Oooooh!" Mikey cheered. "I have an idea. We'll need a pigeon puppet, a polaroid camera, and a way to attach the picture to the camera."

Both Raph and Leo looked at Mikey like he was crazy while Donny slunk behind the camera.

"Or I could simply rewire the camera to feed back a continuous loop." He suggested, doing just that.

Mikey let out a sigh as Raph clapped him on the shell.

"Don't sweat it, little bro." Raph told him. "Maybe in some alternate reality, another set of turtles will try your idea."

"You really think so?" Mikey asked.

"Of course I do." Raph replied.

Donny closed the back panel of the camera with a smile.

"Got it." He declared. "We are clear to move about the rooftop."

Raph then turned towards a large air vent, delivering a powerful kick to it, knocking it free.

"And here's our way down." he declared, then he paused as he stared in shock. "Or maybe not."

The vent didn't lead to anywhere. In fact, aside from the studs that held the vent in place, there wasn't any sign that there ever was a vent.

"What the shell?" Leo whispered in surprise.

"A fake vent?" Mikey asked. "Who puts in a fake vent?!"

"Someone who's trying to make the building appear normal." Donny surmised.

"Okay, this place is starting to skyrocket on the not-what-it-seems scale." Mikey commented.

Donny grabbed the remote to the turtle hacker, reactivating it.

"Even if this one is fake, there has to be a real one around here somewhere." Don noted, going through the security terminal again. "It'll just take a second to find it."

Going through the terminal again, it didn't take long for him to find one.

"Alright, there appears to be a ventilation shaft on the ninth floor, third window over on the left."

The turtles went to the edge, pulling the lines out of their grapple guns and setting them on the edge of the building. Peering over the edge, they made sure nobody was watching, then began rappelling down.

"12..." Mikey counted. "11… 10… Ni-"

As his foot connected with the ninth story window, he passed right through it, as if there was nothing there. For a second, the other three panicked, until Mikey came back through the window, phasing through it as if he was swinging on a swing.

"Hey guys!" he hissed before passing back through, "You've gotta-... Try this for-... Yourselves! ... It's really-"

Raph shoved Mikey hard through the fake window, the rope going slack as Mikey finally landed inside. One by one, they all passed through, entering a large air shaft. Mikey picked himself up off the ground as Raph let out a chuckle.

"Fun..." Mikey grunted.

"Indeed it is, Mikey." Raph replied, yanking Mikey to his feet.

Donny put a finger to his earpiece, whispering into it.

"April, we're in the building. You're clear to leave. We'll take it from here."

…

Mortu escorted April to the door, giving her a kind smile.

"Are you sure I can't change your mind?" Mortu asked. "Galactic Enterprises could greatly benefit from someone as clever as you."

"While I appreciate the compliment, I'm afraid I must decline." April replied. "To be honest, the only reason I tried this was because some friends of mine wanted me to give science another shot."

Mortu gave a nod of understanding.

"Well, if you do not plan on pursuing science, what will you do?"

"Journalism." April replied. "That way monsters like Baxter Stockman will finally be exposed and get the justice they deserve."

Mortu smiled at that.

"A warrior for the truth." he mused. "The world needs more of those. I wish you luck."

"Thank you Mr. Mortu."

April walked out of the building, her smiling fading as she glanced up at the building.

"And good luck guys." she whispered.

Once April vanished down the street, Mortu returned inside as a security guard came up to him.

"Sir, I went over the security system like you ordered, and you were right. I found something off."

"I assumed you would." Mortu replied, walking with the guard. "Seems Miss O'Neil was a distraction after all. What did you find?"

"The roof sensors had been disabled, the camera had been tampered with, and our security schematics had been searched through multiple times." the guard explained, then he handed Mortu the turtle hacker. "This appears to be the source of the leak in our system."

Mortu couldn't help but smirk as he took the hacker, turning it over in his fingers.

"The turtles are in the building." He said to himself. "I'm assuming everyone has been made aware of the situation by now."

"Yes sir." The guard replied. "The entire facility is on high alert and everyone has been instructed to have weapons set to stun."

"Excellent." Mortu said with a nod. "Tell Samson to keep an eye on our two guests. Make sure the girl is still calm and that our first guest is still in good condition."

"Yes sir." the guard said with a salute.

…

The turtles were army crawling through the air vent, trying to find out where Hisako was. So far, every time they peered through an open grate, they just saw a seemingly endless hallway.

"Find anything yet?" Mikey asked. "I don't wanna stare at Leo's butt any longer than I have to."

"Not so much as a person, or a sign indicating where anything is." Donny replied.

"Well, can you check the hacker thingy for a way to where Hisako is?" Mikey suggested.

"I can try." The purple turtle answered.

Donny got out the remote again, but when he turned it on, all he got was static and a disconnected message. His eyes widened at that and he gulped hard.

"Um, guys?" he said, barely suppressing a whimper. "I think someone found my hacker."

"What?!" The other turtles exclaimed, nearly forgetting the stealth part of their mission.

"You mean we've been busted already?!" Mikey squeaked.

"I don't know." Donny replied. "You'd think there'd be alarms or something."

While they spoke, there was the sound of footsteps coming towards them. The turtles all fell silent as a pair of what looked like doctors began to walk underneath them.

"Man, I can't believe we finally got the infirmary cleaned up." One of the doctors commented.

"Tell me about it." the other replied. "I'm surprised that girl caused as much damage as she did."

The pair walked down the hallway, continuing their conversation as the turtles followed them from the vent.

"Yeah, and I would hate to be the Guardians that had to pull her off of Mortu." the first doctor remarked.

"I don't know about that." the second one countered. "I mean, did you see Samson's face?"

"True." The first one agreed. "I mean, he seemed genuinely happy to be getting the slime kicked out of him."

They approached an elevator, pressing the button and waiting for it to come up to them.

"Thankfully he was able to get her subdued and put somewhere that she won't cause any more trouble." The second one said with obvious relief.

"Very true." The first one "Let's just hope it stays that way."

The elevator opened, allowing the two doctors to enter. The second the doors closed behind them, the turtles climbed out of the vent, landing in front of the elevator.

"Did you hear what those guys said?" Raph asked.

"A messy infirmary caused by a girl, who had to be pulled off of a guy as she kicked the slime out of him?" Donny repeated. "That's got to be Hisako."

"They said they had subdued her and put her somewhere where she 'won't cause any more trouble'." Leo added. "I don't like the way that sounds."

"We need to find her fast!" Mikey exclaimed.

"And now we finally have an idea of where to go." Raph declared, spinning his sai in his fingers.

The turtles parted as the red one approached the doors of the elevator. Using his weapons as a set of levers, he pried the doors open, revealing the descending elevator to the brothers.

"Going down?" Mikey asked with a smile.

They all jumped into the elevator shaft, bouncing off the walls before catching hold of the cable, allowing them to descend silently on top of the car. They rode it to the bottom, and once the two doctors had emerged, Raph pried loose the panel on the roof of the elevator. One by one, they all dropped into the elevator, emerging out onto the floor.

"Alright, now we can… can..." Leo began before his voice trailed away.

The plain white hallways from before were completely gone. Instead, there was a large, dark pink room that seemed to expand far beyond the borders of the floor's size. Structures that appeared almost organic in nature were sprawled throughout the place, and everything just looked like the set of a Star Trek movie.

"Holy chalupa..." Mikey gasped.

"Guys, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Donny questioned.

"I'm seeing, but I'm still working on the believing part." Raph replied in complete awe.

The two doctors from the elevator seemed to be headed for the edge of a large platform. Without any real idea of what was going on, or even where to begin, the turtles quickly followed after them, hiding behind a wall.

"At least there's one good thing about that girl's attack," one of the doctors commented. "We get to get out of these suits."

"Agreed." the other one replied. "I can't remember the last time I was out of it."

The two doctors pulled at their lab coats, but instead of just pulling the coats off, there was the sound of something sticky being pulled off. The coat, the shirt, and even the skin of the doctors began to pull away, revealing a robotic skeleton underneath. Mikey nearly squealed in shock, but three green hands, one from each of his brothers, came up to cover his mouth and silence the sound.

The two doctors dropped the skin suits as a strange creature was revealed in each of their stomachs.

"Don, what are those things?" Leo whispered.

"They look similar to Opisthoteuthis californiana." Donny replied.

"Less science, more English." Raph hissed.

"Flapjack Octopus." Donny clarified.

Mikey said something barely intelligible through the three hands covering his mouth, but it was obvious he was still confused. Donny groaned in annoyance.

"The little pink octopus from Finding Nemo." Donny clarified again, much slower.

"Well obviously these things ain't your usual sushi platter." Raph commented.

Mikey pulled his face free of his brothers' hands.

"Guys... you're missing the obvious answer." He told them. "Those octopus dudes are aliens."

The turtles looked back at the octopus guys, which were beginning to float away on small little hover pads, leaving their robotic bodies and gross skin suits behind. The floor opened up beneath it all, swallowing it and sending it who knows where.

"Aliens..." Donny repeated. "As if our lives weren't freaky enough."

With the aliens long gone, the turtles went to the edge of the platform to look over the edge. Down below, they could see several more of the alien creatures flying around the place, as well as a few in just plain metal skeletons without the skins. Many were marching around wielding large guns in their hands, no doubt some sort of guard force.

"Dudes, they have laser rifles." Mikey said in fear.

"We can see that, Mikey." Raph told him.

"But I don't see any sign of Hisako anywhere." Donny added.

Leo continued looking, then his eyes locked on a figure walking around below them. His fists clenched as he recognized the Guardian from before.

"I think I do." He whispered. "Look who just showed up."

He pointed towards the Guardian as he walked up to one of the floating aliens, intercepting him from wherever he was heading.

"Dr. Xeinos," the Guardian greeted. "Mortu wants you to check on the rat. Considering everything that has happened, it may not be a bad idea to ensure that he's still in good condition."

"But I just got done with the clean-up efforts in the infirmary, and I'm in need of a decontamination session." the alien replied in a voice that almost seemed feminine.

"The rat's life is crucial to gaining the girl's trust." Samson reminded her. "Please Dr. Xeinos."

The alien doctor sighed.

"Oh alright." she told him. "But after that, I am done for the day."

"Fair enough." the Guardian replied.

The two parted ways, leaving the turtles stunned.

"Guys, please tell me I'm not the only one who heard that." Mikey practically begged.

"Check on the rat?" Donny repeated. "It can't be..."

"We have to see for ourselves." Leo insisted, almost desperately.

"Couldn't agree more, Leo." Raph told him.

The four jumped off of the ledge, carefully avoiding the aliens around them as they landed silently on the floor below. Channeling every lesson in stealth and sticking to the shadows, the four followed the alien doctor down towards a long hallway.

"Go and check on the rat, he says." The doctor mocked as she floated deeper down the hallway. "It's crucial to gaining the girl's trust he says. He's the one that brought those two here, he should be the one to check on them, but no..."

At the end of the hallway, a strange door that shared the seemingly organic nature of the entire place opened up, allowing the doctor and the turtles into a large room full of floor to ceiling columns. Each column was made up of strange mechanical pods that were filled to the brim with a strange blue-green liquid, and a few of these pods were occupied by either an alien or a human. However, the alien doctor floated passed all of them, approaching a pod on one of the upper parts of a nearby column.

"Good afternoon." The doctor said to the patient inside the pod. "You missed out on the action again. Our other guest made quite a mess of the recovery ward. Thankfully, her little outburst didn't get to the Intensive Care unit, so you and your fellow patience should be alright."

The turtles began climbing up the column as the doctor brought up a holographic screen on the glass of the pod.

"Looks like the mutagenic medicine is nearly done healing your lower abdominal regions, and without and adverse effects to your mutated cells." The doctor continued, unaware of the turtles' approach. "I'm sure your family will be happy to hear about that."

"Why don't you ask them?" Raph snapped.

The doctor turned around just in time to see Raph's foot connect with her face, sending her flying off of her little floating platform. Mikey caught her as she flew, then slammed her into the ground, knocking her out cold. With the doctor out of the way, the turtles turned to the pod, and the patient inside. All four of them went wide-eyed when they saw who it was.

"Master Splinter!" they all exclaimed.

Their master and father was floating in the strange blue-green ooze, his eyes closed and his body still. The holographic screen was still on and Donny quickly began going over it. Though all the information was in a languages he couldn't even begin to understand, the charts and readouts were relatively easy to make out.

"Don, how is he?" Leo asked, his voice laced with no small amount of fear.

"If I'm reading these right, Sensei's vital signs are stable." He replied.

"No wonder we couldn't find him." Raph remarked. "That guardian guy must have snagged him after Hisako turned her back and brought him here."

"Can you get him out?" Mikey pleaded.

"I don't think so." Donny replied. "Whatever this thing is, I can't even begin to understand how it works. One false move, and I could hurt him real bad… or worse."

Mikey shivered.

"I don't want to think about worse." he muttered.

"So what, we're just gonna leave him there?!" Raph exclaimed.

"We don't have a choice, Raph." Leo argued. "Our best bet right now is to find Hisako, get the shell out of here, then come up with a plan to help Splinter without hurting him anymore than he already is."

Raph glared at his brother, then glanced over his shoulder at Splinter. His hard gazed softened somewhat, then he let out a snarl of anger and frustration.

"Fine." he said reluctantly. "So where do you suggest we start looking for her?"

The alien doctor began to groan, obviously coming to. The turtles exchanged glances, then looked down at the doctor. Leo bent down and picked her up, all four of them putting on their most sinister and monstrous looks. The doctor saw this and let out a terrified squeak.

"The turtles!" she stammered. "H-how did you find this place?!"

"Sorry doc, but you ain't the one asking questions here." Mikey quipped.

"You see, my brothers and I have had a very rough few days, and none of us are in the best of moods." Leo explained, pulling a sword from its sheath. "So it would be in your best interest to do exactly what we say."

The alien doctor gulped as Donny tapped his Bo staff against his palm.

"Lucky for you, there's only one thing we want you to do." He assured the alien. "Answer one simple question for us."

Raph the squeezed the alien's head as hard as he could, causing it to squeal in pain.

"Where. Is. Hisako?" he snarled.

…

Hisako sat in a simple meeting room in the center of a large table, meditating in order to calm down. There was an empty pizza box beside her, as well as an empty bottle of coke, peace offerings to get her to calm down that had succeeded. With her stomach full and the shock worn off, she was able to rationalize everything that was going on. While she meditated, the door to the meeting room opened, allowing Samson entrance. Hisako cracked an eye open, then smiled before jumping off the table.

"Samson." she greeted, grabbing her garbage and tossing it into a large can by the door. "I'm guessing the infirmary is clean now."

"Indeed." Samson told her, taking one of the seats. "Feeling better?"

Hisako nodded, sitting on the edge of the table and looking sheepish.

"Yeah." she admitted. "Sorry about freaking out the way I did."

Samson chuckled.

"You woke up in a strange place, in the infirmary, and you learned aliens exist." he listed off. "I think you were entitled to freak out."

Hisako shared in Samson's chuckle, rubbing the back of her head.

"I guess." she said after a moment. "Though considering the weird stuff my family and I deal with on a daily basis, you'd think that aliens wouldn't be so shocking."

Once again, the two chuckled, then Hisako looked at Samson with a small smile.

"Thank you."

Samson looked at her in confusion as she continued.

"Thank you for helping me, and my dad." She told him. "I don't know how things would have turned out had you not done what you did… though next time you do, drop a note or something."

Samson have an understanding nod.

"I will be sure to do so in the future." He promised.

They sat there for a bit, then Hisako spoke again.

"Why did you save us?" she wondered. "I remember you saying that you had been searching for me these past 14 years, but I still don't get why."

Samson's smile became somewhat sad as his eyes seemed to glaze over. Hisako could feel an old sadness, much like the way Splinter was when he thought of Tang Shen.

"Because… I made a promise to someone very important to me that I would be keep you safe." He answered eventually.

"Who?" Hisako questioned.

Samson looked at Hisako, running his hand along her hair.

"Your parents."

Before Hisako even had time to properly register what Samson had said, the door was kicked inward, causing both her and Samson to jump. From the hallway, the four turtles walked in, weapons drawn and serious expressions on their faces.

"Guys!" Hisako called out in surprise.

Samson's eyes locked onto the alien in Raph's hand.

"Dr. Xeinos!" he exclaimed.

"I-I'm sorry Samson…" The alien squeaked. "They threatened to skewer me."

Raph tossed the alien at Samson, forcing him to catch her. While he focused on saving his extra-terrestrial friend, Mikey leapt into the air with his foot primed to attack.

"Cowabunga!" he exclaimed, kicking Samson into the wall.

With those two out of the way, the turtles ran to Hisako, checking her up and down.

"Hisako, you okay?" Donny asked.

Hisako nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm okay guys." she assured them. "I'm more than okay. I found Sensei!"

"We know." Leo told her. "We found him too. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to come back for him later, but right now we just need to get you out of here."

Hisako shook her head.

"Guys, you got it all wrong." she attempted to explain to them. "I'm not in trouble. Not this time. These guys are-"

Her words were cut off by the sound of laser fire coming their direction. They all hit the deck as a bolt of pink energy connected with the wall, leaving a fair-sized scorch mark on it.

"You idiots!" A shout came from down the hallway. "I said set the weapons to stun!"

"Mortu?" Hisako wondered.

"We've been made!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Come on guys, no time for stealth now." Leo declared.

Raph grabbed Hisako's arm, pulling her down the hallway as they attempted to make their escape. They ran up to about a dozen of the alien creatures, all of them aiming laser rifles at the group. Hisako's eyes widened at the sight, already know what was about to happen.

"Guys wait-!" she tried to say.

Donny ran up to the group, extending the two blades on his staff.

"Gangway!" he shouted, spinning the staff

He knocked away the metal exoskeletons that were not fast enough to move out of the way. With a path now clear, Raph threw Hisako over his shoulder and the three bolted out of the room.

"Donny, which way did we come from?" Leo asked.

"The elevator should be-" Donny began.

As they made it towards the elevator, several floating aliens and ones in metal exo-suits came to block their path.

"Uh oh!" Mikey squeaked.

The aliens began to open fire, forcing the turtles to begin evasive maneuvers,

"Looks like we need an alternate route." Raph observed.

"Where?" Leo asked deflecting a laser blast with his sword.

Their options were slowly beginning to dwindle, Donny noticed an open hallway that seemed to be devoid of their alien pursuers.

"Down there!" He exclaimed.

They all took off down the hallway, much to the horror of Mr. Mortu.

"Stop them!" he shouted desperately.

The fire power increased dramatically as the aliens attempted to stop the turtles from getting any farther. They managed to make it to the end of the hallway, where it opened up to a large room dominated by a strange looking platform. The turtles barely had time to look at it before a stray laser blast caught Raph in the back, sending both him and Hisako falling onto the platform. They tried getting up, but something kept them from moving.

"Hey!" Raph called, trying to move his legs. "I can't move!"

"Me neither!" Hisako said in a panic.

The others jumped onto the platform to try and help them up, but it just resulted in them getting stuck themselves. The platform then began to glow a bright pink color as the aliens came running in. When Mortu saw what was happening, he ran to the controls in an attempt to stop the process.

"Mr. Mortu!" Hisako screamed. "What is going on?!"

He didn't answer her question, too focused on trying to turn off the machine. Unfortunately, it was too late.

"I am sorry Hisako, I cannot shut it down." he told her. "When it is over, seek out an Utrom Outpost! It is your only chance of coming home!"

"What are you-?!"

Before she could finish her question, balls of pink light began to swirl around the five of them, reducing their bodies to large masses of light before they vanished all together. The platform's lights died away, leaving the aliens alone in the now empty room.

0 notes

writefromthevoid · 7 years

Text

Hey, hey!

A lot of you know me as the chick online who writes about ghosts and service dogs and, well, writing. If I were a character, my blog would probably make me look pretty two-dimensional. Maybe not even equipped to be a supporting role. But of course, there’s a lot more to me than that. (I would imagine there’s a lot more to your supporting characters, too, but that’s a topic for another post.)

Consider this a little bit character sheet meets a little bit about page. Plus, it’s in list format. I’m a sucker for list format. Maybe that’s thing #1.

1.My best friend has 4 legs.

My dog, Pippin, is a saving grace. When I adopted him, he was obviously too young to be taken from his mother. My mom and I had to soak his puppy kibble in warm milk in order to make it soft enough for him to chew. Growing up, he loved to ride around in the hood of my coat. Now, he’s much too big to do that, but he’s just about as attached to me.

Except when he’s stealing Dad’s chair, that is.

Pip was originally supposed to be my dog for 4H, but I absolutely detested it. The meetings were difficult for me, having started right after an invasive knee surgery, and I lost all interest after I found out I wouldn’t be able to go to the county fair my first year. I’m glad I tried it, though. Lots of people find 4H to be a fun and fulfilling experience. Frankly, I loved it when I was working with guinea pigs and sewing. Dogs just didn’t do it for me. Pip didn’t like it either. He spent meetings barking at other dogs and cowering behind my legs. My mother agreed with me that the competition was too fierce and the culture too judgmental. It wasn’t any fun.

I quit 4H a couple months after I joined. Pip and I almost instantly relaxed and became much closer. He’d curl up by me when I did homework and ride in my coat hood until he got too big. As I got older and I started displaying more and more symptoms of a frustrating “mystery illness,” Pip started learning how to help me in my day to day life. Through careful training and praise for his natural helpfulness, Pip has grown into a friend I truly depend on.

I’m a pyrotech.

When I was 15, I was green with envy. I had called my father on the fourth of July, and he didn’t pick up the phone. I assumed he must be at work and tried again a few hours later. Still no answer. Finally, the next day, he called to apologize and tell me he’d been without a cell phone for the day because he’d been blasting off fireworks the size of the average human skull.

A few years went by. Every year around the fourth, he’d disappear for a couple days and come back covered in a thin layer of black powder and a tan for the ages. The jealousy grew. Finally, when I was nineteen, I boarded a plane on July 1st to light up the sky with him and the rest of the crew.

Photo cred: Amy Webster

I was the youngest face among the dozen or so pyrotechs, but I was quickly accepted into the fold. Many of them teased about how I’m essentially a female version of my father, with humor even dryer (if that’s even possible). Within hours, those people felt like family. They taught me the tricks of the trade, watched me like a hawk, and threw me water bottles so my Pacific Northwest body didn’t dry out like a strip of jerky under the Texas sun.

That sun is awful. It always is.

The next year, when I was twenty, our head Pyrotech assigned me and my now-fiance to the mini show that would coordinate with the main fireworks. Alex and I loaded up my dad’s car with boxes upon boxes of explosives and carefully marked the field, matched the cakes, and ran the wires. Come showtime, we flipped the switches to detonate our own showers of sparks.

Last year, my vacation request was denied and my dad ran the coordinated show. He told me it was a bit intimidating to live up to my standard. This year, though, nothing is stopping me from going back out to my Fireworks Family.

My first short story was about a guinea pig who traveled the world.

As I mentioned before, I was in 4H as a kid. When I was in fourth grade, my mom and I made a trek across Clark County every other week with a small animal carrier in the back seat. Inside was a tiny ball of white fur I’d been so original as to name Snowball. (In reality, we called her Snowy ninety percent of the time.) She was a long-haired silkie himalayan guinea pig. For nine-year-old me, she was the best thing since sliced bread. I competed with her in cavy shows (yes, those are a thing) and learned a lot about animal husbandry during that time.

That was also about the time I started getting sick. I was plagued with migraines so severe, I would come home from school screaming. My mother begged the school to keep Tylenol on hand for me, to let me go to the library during lunch if I didn’t feel well, to do anything other than force me to sit quietly in the sun and try to endure. No one listened to her. Doctors weren’t sure what to do with me other than write out prescriptions for Topamax and subject me to brain scan after brain scan. All were normal. It was hell.

This is far too familiar to me.

I ended up missing out on a lot of what made childhood “normal” because of those headaches. I missed a lot of playdates. I stayed home from school a lot, even up through high school. The solution for nine-year-old me was to write. And I wrote a lot. A lot. To the point that my childhood bedroom was littered with papers outlining short stories I’d never finished, rough outlines of plays I’d forget by the next morning, and one binder I guarded with my life. Inside, there were dozens and dozens of sheets of paper covered in my tiny, meticulous printing. Together, they came together to tell a story of a guinea pig who had floated away on a helium balloon and ended up accidentally travelling the whole world.

Her name was Snow.

I am a certified A level horseback rider.

When I was about 10 years old, the horse bug bit me. Hard.

My mom had horses growing up. I used to flip through her photo albums. Rocky, the quarter horse she leased from her neighbor for $1 a year when she lived in Coos Bay, Oregon, was a beautiful bay with the most patient disposition she’d ever met. She’d had to leave him behind when the military took my grandpa to Florida, though. There, she bought Spirit, a high strung palomino mare. Half of her high school years were spent riding her bike out to the barn and cleaning stalls in exchange for a place for her mare.

At eleven, my mom took me for my very first horseback riding lesson. It was a challenge for me, the awkward, self-conscious, always-sick middle-schooler. Under my instructor’s teachings, though, I flourished. I learned how to clean stalls, tie ropes, and take charge. Within months, I was doing the same trade my mom had-cleaning stalls and tossing hay in exchange for time with the gentle giants. Always looming on the horizon, though, was the thinly-veiled threat of severe injury. Three weeks after I’d started lessons, my knee dislocated for the first time. The next ten days were an agonizing wait until my body recovered enough to let me climb back into the saddle.

Horse fever doesn’t go away.

I leased a couple horses during my time there. The one that stole my heart for keeps was Cisco, a 16.2hh Thoroughbred Paint with an attitude as big as the Northwestern forests. As a sophomore in high school, I memorized my Poetry Out Loud entry on horseback. I worked on my novels sitting on the edge of Cisco’s stall. I studied for my final exams sitting cross-legged on the barn floor at the county fairgrounds while my instructor braided my hair to tuck under my velveteen helmet.

Those years were some of the best years of my life.

I wrote my first novel manuscript at age 16 while I was recovering from my second knee surgery.

During my freshman year of high school, I ended up on crutches a grand total of 27 times. My knees would not stay where they belonged. My ankles sprained constantly. I would feel bone scrape on bone and spend half an hour trying to coax my joints back into place only to run onto the field with the marching band two hours later.

Super familiar setting.

This went on for years. I became a master of maneuvering over gravel on crutches, of leading horse safety classes from a chair, and making things work for me. I was still riding my horse at least three times a week and hitting the football field with the marching band at every game. But when, at 15, I collapsed in my bedroom because my knee didn’t like me getting up from my desk, bringing half a bookshelf down with me, my life came to a screeching halt. Something had to change.

I spent almost the next year in a wheelchair on and off. I had physical therapy a couple times a week and a surgery on each knee. Cisco went back into the lesson circuit because I didn’t have the strength to ride. That broke me. He had been my best friend, and then he was gone. Losing him is what spurred me on to write. Through the haze of painkillers and exhaustion, I wrote 250 pages of jerky, unsure prose about a girl who was being visited by the ghost of her sister and her horse.

Ultimately writing that was what enabled me to write this monster of a document-

Those pages are double sided.

-which later went on to become Nightfall.

I think most writers are interesting characters. It’s just a matter of making it through the perpetually distracted outer shell. We never truly stop writing. Everything is filed away for another time.

Keep that in mind the next time you have lunch with one of us. ;)

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me Hey, hey! A lot of you know me as the chick online who writes about ghosts and service dogs and, well, writing.

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