𝕊𝕂𝕐𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔩

===***===

On a normal basis, Tomas went about his own business and left Finley to his; they seemed to attract different sorts of people, and came at things from disparate angles. Which was fine by Tomas. The farm was the farm for a reason, and he’d never tried in his thirty years designing, planting, and tending it to make any particular stake of ownership (except for the apothecary! that shit was his until he turned it over to young Doctor Akbar). Finley had set up his area, and Tomas circulated around it.

But while he was on his way out after a day packed with enough varied activity to wear Tomas out, he noticed that things weren’t percolating the way they normally were in Finley’s area. Usually there were bunches of people hanging on the young man’s every movement, waiting for him to give them instructions; this time they were moving in currents, leaving a space around their focus of attention. Politeness?

Fortunately, Tomas didn’t much consider himself subject to that same social contract. Plus, there was nowhere and nobody on the farm who he considered sacrosanct, territory he shouldn’t encroach upon, so he trundled over to where Finn was sitting and stood there for a moment, arms folded, dark eyes scanning the younger man’s form. 

“Sit up straight,” Tomas said finally. “Let me take a look at you.” He bent, taking Finn’s chin in his hand and tilting his face to the side, then up. “The jungle? Is that were you got hurt?” He grunted in his throat, following it with, “–don’t even try to brush me off, I can tell when somebody’s hurting. You’ll just be wasting both our time.”

‘Aw shit’. Finn thought to himself as he heard Tomas’s voice. There were two types of moods for everyone when Tomas was directly talking to them about something serious, those who would listen and those who pretend to be asleep and hope he would just walk away. Finn unfortunetly forgot to do both. “Yeah, you can take a look with your eyes, I’m not a fruit or a prostitute who needs to be touched to check it’s quality.” He let out a sigh as also making a reluctant face while Tomas was checking him. “I’m fine, nothing happening here, I’m just... thinking a few things, I’ll be feeling better tomorrow.” He tried that excuse again, the same excuse he has been giving people for the past few days.

It’s not that he doesn’t like Tomas, Finn actually liked him, he was a good exemple for others and all that, but that wasn’t a really good day for him, those days weren’t good days for him. He wanted to be left alone, he knew there were people needing his help, but couldn’t he just have a moment to help himself first? “I’m sorry dude, I’m just...” He sighed again, shaking his head a little. “Yeah, I got a few scratches in the jungle, but nothing serious, I’m still moving and giving you my difficult mood, see? That means I’m fine, I just need some space to... anyway.” Finn had that heavyness in his eyes, like not having good sleep for a few days, he knew it, nothing he even could do about it. “Can I ask you something? If you want me to believe you’re worried now, why you only come when there’s something wrong? Why I never saw you telling me I’m doing a good job or that I’m at least helping this place?”

Only by them, cause after people meet me they see that what I have of looks I also have of mental instability and depression so they run away.

And just like that, another sun goes down on the shore. Not that Finn is counting how many were so far, he was just tired of them. After the incident in the forest things seemed to have changed with everyone, fear seemed to be making it’s way into people’s hearts and minds, and Finn didn’t needed that. Being alone was always something that helped him think and find solutions for his personal issues, and after some recent events Finley didn’t felt like he had the right to ask anyone’s help. He was making himself distant, from people, from his job at the farm, from everything. Not exactly because he needed that space, but simply because he wanted to. He wanted distance.

As night would come, he was sitting there, nearby the farm, alone in the tables watching the sky change it’s collors, and as he watched some of the others who worked around the farm with him just pretend he wasn’t there. Finn wasn’t sure if they were respecting his clear request for space, or just decided to ignore him for him being doing that a lot lately, if people were too close, they would notice how his wounds didn’t seemed to be healing very well, or the fact that he had some new scratches around his body. He has been training a lot, doing things others didn’t needed to know and just trying to push some things out of his mind. The blonde closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath of air while little by little the people around the tables started to leave, soon he would be alone, at least he thought, before his great hearing noticed footsteps walking towards him.

Well, I would love to haunt my friends, some people in this damn island is always telling me about this thing called Facebook, Tinder and Instant Gram, that people use to get in touch with their friends, but well, in my normal age if I wanted to get in touch with my friends I’d need an ouija board. Sallute

@finnkepner​ / @lucas-lowe​​

—

“I don’t.” Luke replies brusquely. Whatever they may be, they attacked first, unprovoked and unwilling to talk. He doesn’t have the time and energy to feel for things that are unknowable and hostile toward him. He can’t give two shits about what they are or what they want right now– they can fall back into whichever grave they crawled out of for all he cares. It’s not like Mallory has her heart bleeding out for these ghosts, so he just shrugs it off. 

When the trio reunites, surrounded by the shadows swarming them, Luke takes a moment to catch his breath and assess the situation. While they are definitely outnumbered, the ghosts are neither armed nor after the kill so far. They are not a pack, and doesn’t seem to have a tactic. They simply cling themselves to anyone alive, possibly clawing or shoving or suffocating their victims. Individually, they are not the biggest threat– their sheer number and the incorporeal nature are what make them dangerous. Fighting them upfront, you will just tire yourself out. 

Luke gestures at Mallory to stay close, and keeps an eye out for any lunging shadow. He also noticed the flickering whenever they are hit. “I have no fucking clue,” he replies, panting heavily. Whenever they get closer, he slashes with the axe or kicks them away until they back off. “I’m all ears, Blondie.” He says before his head shoots up as the arrow pierces through the thick air. Drops and drops of water pour down on the ghosts (and Luke who stands relatively closer to them), causing them to flicker in and out. “…either they don’t like water,” he observes. He shakes his head like a wet dog to get the water out of his hair, before charging forward. His axe draws a wide arc as it strikes down on one of the ghosts, cutting it in half. The cold creeps up on his hand as the blade passes through their form. It doesn’t leave any gash, but it does back away and melts back into the shadow. Luke takes a few steps back to the others, exhaling, “or just anything that passes through their forms.” He theorizes and then looks at the others, “so, what’s our play here?”

《❀》

Reunited as they are, she doesn’t feel any relief. Luke beckons her close, and she covers his flank, eyes darting over the small, cramped area they are fighting in. “They’ll back us to one of the drops if we aren’t careful. I know you guys can probably float your asses to the floor again or something, but some of us fly even less than chickens,” she tells them urgently, feeling a shift in the terrain beneath their feet as they back up.

A glance behind them reveals a dense foliage and no sight of what lay beyond it. It could be a cliff, or it could be more path. Mallory returns her attention to the matter at hand, curling her hands into a fist, picking the water up from where she flings it. “Any idea is better than no idea,” she says half a beat before the arrow hits the tree, sending water cascading over them. It hits her and Luke, too close to the ghost, but she shifts it off her hair and skin, flinging it back at the ghosts as they reappear.

Mallory grimaces as Luke’s axe plunges through them. She sends out a spray of water to a ghost, catching it before its fingers can wrap around his wrist. “Maybe it just… bothers them? We feel weird when they touch us, maybe they feel weird when we touch them,” she suggests, squinting at the ghosts, hoping she can find something in their depths that give them answers.

As they figure out their plan, Mallory steps in front of them, using her attunement to fling water at them when they get too close. “I can do this a while, but either I’m going to get tired or they are going to start ignoring us,” she says over her shoulder, already feeling a drain from using her attunement so much in a too short of time. There’s no shortage of water in the jungle, but the energy to use it comes from her.

“Why are we even lingering? Come on, let’s just… let’s go. Uh… which way is out?” She frowns, losing concentration for a moment to scan the trees around them, which look undisturbed despite her and Luke’s ungentle arrival. As if it’s fixed itself since then. The idea sends a shiver through her. She screams as a ghost latches onto her arm in the distraction, another reaching for Luke, ghostly fingers raking across flesh and leaving marks.

Why he had to try to help? Why he had to be the good guy who couldn’t just leave his intuition behind for a moment and try to save his friends first? Why Finn had to put the two most important people to him in danger like that? They had no way out of that trap, they had no idea where they were or which way to go, that forest was a maze and there were ghosts everywhere, they didn’t had time to wander around on their luck trying to find the way out, Finn brought them to their death. He wasn’t a pessimistic kind of guy, that was just him being real, they were there for him, they were risking their lives for him just like every other person he ever lost, once again that pattern repeats itself.

While still trying to catch his breath as his body felt like having an anxiety attack, he would aim his arrows to those things with shaky hands, his gaze trying so hard to keep his attention focused but those things weren’t even seeing his arrows as a problem. Finn was the weak link, he was always the weak link, always the one needing saving or needing help, or having people worried about him and dying on him. Thoughts started to come to his mind as he was trying to keep them away, heart beating so fast that he was sweaty more from trying to control his attention than from the fight itself. Damn, he was so sick of that, his hands were shaking, his bruises were hurting and his attention was everywhere, he was not ok in so many ways, and it was no time for that, his friends were getting injured and there he stood, injured and uncapable of helping. His body felt cold, like the heat from adrenaline was leaving him and a feeling of defeat was taking over, still, he had that arrow aimed, two left, and still he couldn’t think of anything else he could do to help.

Finn took the shoot as the arrow flew into one of those ghostly bodies just to hit the ground like it touched nothing. Causing the ghost to only stop for less than a second before moving against his friends again. One arrow left, and he already knew what would happen. While standing back, watching Mallory use everything she had to keep the water delaying them, and while Luke would try so hard to give them more time to think of something, made Finn wish he didn’t asked for help, he knew Luke would hear it and they would come help, he knew it was dangerous, but he would die feeling a lot better knowing he didn’t caused those two to die with him. As he pulled that arrow to his bow, aiming once again to those things, Finn stopped, took a deep breath and tried to push away those thoughts and feelings, if they were about to die, he wanted to die thinking he tried his best, and not fraking out. He had that aim ready, eyes like eagle’s looking sharp into those things but as he was standing a little behind the other two, his sight noticed a cloudy looking figure a little faster than the others sprinting right to Mallory’s side while she wasn’t looking, he saw it, she didn’t, that things was coming for her blood, he felt it on his spine. “Mall, Look out!!” And on a desperate move, Finn dropped the bow, forcing his knees and ankles to give him speed to get to her first, throwing his body in between them at the exactly right moment.

It didn’t felt like burning, it was more like running the side of your body into barbed wire at fourty miles an hour, Finn dropped to his knees, his body trying to understand the pain while his entire nerve system shook for a second and the world went silent, his eyes went wide as he gulped a scream of pain. Drops of blood started to hit the ground as he would go back to recover his senses and hear everything again. He could breathe now, but still he was static, hands and knees on the ground while the pain felt like the first of many yet to come. His breathing was deep as Finn tried to get his crap together and stand, he turned his eyes up to see them, look at those two were the best thing he could do right now, he was useful for something, at least one thing he did right. But as Finn looked up, in the distance, his eyes focused on something, a few meters away from them, a ditch, with a tree trunk by the ground and a very old red strap tied to it. A snap of hope and adrenaline came to him in a second, Finn couldn’t believe his eyes, his heart started beating even faster out of excitement, his body felt like it could move again, run the hell away from that place as he had eyes focused on that red strap. “Luke... do you remember what I asked you when we first met? Right after you saved me from a ditch?” He knew where they were, who would ever believe that there were hope after all. “If you don’t remember... I asked you if you knew the way back, remember what you said? Cause I kinda do.”

No, I don’t think so... ghosts are ghosts you know? It doesn’t bring the people back, it just reopens that scar you worked so hard to let it heal. So yeah, I don’t wanna see anyone familiar, I don’t think it would do any good for me.

1. The “nice guy” face

Usually dedicated to most people since he’s actually a nice guy who likes being social, but all it takes is a few wrong words for Finn to change his moods with you.

2. The “idc” face

He has some complicated moods sometimes but whenever he’s not feeling very social or just don’t like you he would easily look at you with the face of someone who’s just being polite to not walk out on you.

3. The cute smiley face

A natural thing only for the very few people he actually likes and trusts, and nobody else.

Luke eyes the axe in his hand, and then back at Castle. “I could try” he says offhandedly with a shrug. He doesn’t know what works and not works against… ghosts? Whatever the fuck those were. They had limbs and heads, at least the appearance of those parts, anyway. Who knows, maybe you could chop them off like a cantaloupe. “Whatever they were, they weren’t friendly.” He points out. He doesn’t like the idea of the dead spirits haunting the depth of the Jungle, but he can’t it is the weirdest shit he encountered on this island. People can control fire and water, and they don’t grow old for centuries. Specters are just more horror movie themed. 

He raises a brow as she realizes the evident absence of the blonde. While Castle begins to call out her brother, Luke goes through his trekking backpack and retrieves a clean piece of cloth he keeps around as a towel or handkerchief. He hands it over to Castle, saying, “you’re bleeding.” And then he moves past her, tuning himself to the sounds around them.

The Jungle feels almost foreign to him. The incessant buzzing of the bugs, the distant cries and calls of the wildlife, the rustle of the comically large leaves of the rain forest, all those familiar sounds are nowhere to be heard. It’s too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. He raises his arm to shush Castle for a moment. 

The soggy breeze passes them by, carrying the whiff of decay. His eyes shoot toward the direction of a faint yelp. “That way,” Luke gestures toward the source of the scream, likely from Finn. “Try to catch up,” he says as he breaks into a sprint without warning. zipping through the trees and jumping over the roots in dangerous velocity. He soon spots the color of blond on the ground, getting swarmed by shadowy figures. He tackles one of the ghosts to the ground as he grabs its head and smashes into the earth repeatedly. And then, he scrambles up to his feet and peels the ghostly hands off of Finn. The blurry figure grappled by him resembles a young man in early 20s with fathomless shadows in the eyes. Luke, without so much as a blink of an eye, strikes it down with the axe. The blade finds no purchase as it cuts through, but from its shoulder to the center of the chest is now a gap like a drawing on scissored paper. It lets out a gasp as it falls backward, “help me”. He ignores the plead and promptly kicks another shadow over the head, getting it off of Finn.

Luke grabs Finn by the arms and helps him up. Instead of his typical jokes and snarks, he simply asks, “you alright?” He glances back at the pack of shadows appearing one by one, weeping and murmuring like they were at a funeral. He clicks his tongue as he pushes Finn behind him. Despite his constant teasing, Finn is better with bows and arrows than brawling. It is prudent to keep some distance between the archer and the ghosts. “Castle! A little help here?!” He calls toward where he last saw Mallory.

@mallorycastle / @finnkepner

《❀》

She doesn’t point out the obvious: not friendly is a generous term to give something determined to drag you down to the depths to save themselves. “I have some sympathy for them,” she mutters, dragging a hand through her hair with a huff. “But I’m not trading my soul for theirs - or whatever the lot of them are trying to do.” She’s sorry for them, she really is, but she’s not going to let one of them crawl their way into her body.

Her fingers touch her cheek, stopping a hair away from it before reaching out for the handkerchief with a short, brisk nod. “Finn?” she murmurs, as if her brother can hear her from wherever he is. Her stomach is somewhere around her ankles, and falling more the longer it takes Finn to respond. She presses the handkerchief against her cheek hard, squinting at Luke, vaguely recognizing the distant expression on his face.

His warning is a short, brisk thing before he’s off, shooting across the jungle floor like he’s made of a pure air. With an annoyed huff, Mallory sprints after him, channeling every ounce of energy into her pumping legs. He’s lost to her in seconds - but she’s fast, and it doesn’t take long for her to make out the sounds of Finn’s voice. Or the sounds of combat as Luke launches himself at a ghost, heedless of what seems like a fruitless effort.

Mallory trips over a root, but rolls into it with only a faint twinge in one of her ankles, knocking into a ghost. Cold splashes over her, something even a water attuned can’t completely ignore, but the ghost moves away, hurdling towards Luke. “I’m working on it, Luke!” she gasps, a stitch in her side and an ache in her ankles. Straightening, she heads straight for her brother, hand on his back to let him know where she’s standing. “Finn! You–” A ghost shrieks, demanding attention she isn’t willing to give it yet. The cry increases an octave, unwilling to be ignored, running for them. She huffs. “…Ugh, you better believe we’re having a conversation later.”

She’s not great with combat; she’s more of a fight from the shadows type of lady, but no time for worrying about it. No time to think of a better plan. “Fuck off, ghost,” she snarls, flipping the cap off her canteen and dragging water from the depths, sending it out in a whiplike motion at one of the ghosts. Drenching them doesn’t work, but the slashing of water through their form seems to make them briefly shiver, to back away a single step before they try to hurtle forward again. “Oh, are you afraid of water? I’ve got plenty of it to spare.”

She splashes them, and freezes it, but it does little more than make them momentarily pause before they flicker and reappear. “What the hell is this?” ​

That unit needed more trainning, there were no doubt about that, but Finn couldn’t be happier to see them. It felt weird being attacked by those things, almost like their hands were so cold that they were pulling the heat out of his flesh and sucking it like orange juice only getting more and more of them to attack and appear. Finn had good eyes for noticing stuff, his body were still pretty scared and a little damaged but he was alive, that was more than enough. Seeing Luke and Mallory there was a relief, both of them were alive, but at same time Finn cursed himself under his breath for needing help and now bringing them to that place. He was standing behind Luke, once again, he saved him, gosh, felt good to have him around, and Mallory being there meant those two lunatics had much bigger chances of surviving.

It didn’t took long for Finn to recover himself, now a little less panicked he pulled out his bow and prepared an arrow, not exactly sure where to shoot that, but ready to do it if any of those things tried to move faster towards them. But then something happened. When Mallory used water against them, even for a second they backed away, not sure if because they were avoiding it or scared of it, either way, that brought something to his mind. All that thing about ghost he would listen about were all connected to the spiritual world and how those things were made of energy, eletromagnetic fields were necessary to create energy enought for them to manifest, and at sme time, water was the perfect conduit to that, so at same time it could bring them, it could push them away, technically.

“Umm... guys.” He spoke with a more controlled voice while looking around. “Is it ok for me to say that I might have a plan?” For a moment Finn tried something, looking up he found a weak branch on the top of some trees, it was connected to a good amount of leafs and that’s what he needed at the moment. Finn aimed the arrow up, taking a breath and shooting at it, as the arrow flew hard to the branch with them ghosts once again moving towards the group. The impact of the arrow caused the entire branch to shake, the water drops from early rain were pushed away, falling like kamikaze bombs on those things, and there it were, they were glitching again. “Alright, anybody else noticing a pattern here?”

      𝙸𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎, 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝? 𝙲𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎, 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚘, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚒𝚝, 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚍𝚘, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚊𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝙸'𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜, 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕.

      𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔'𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚢𝚎𝚝, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚓𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚓𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚠𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢, 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑.

      𝙸'𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝... 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚊𝚍. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚘, 𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚞𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚔. 𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝙸 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

Think so, but since bisexual culture is liking boys and girls and dating neither, I’m perfectly comfortable on keeping that information a secret. Sometimes I look at people of various genders and say ‘wow, nice’ but mostly I lie down on the floor a lot because the only ‘bi’ thing about me lately is that I’m tired and sad, so, cheers!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Aim?”  Emre repeated, in mild surprise. He took a step closer to Finn, spinning his hand as he continued talking.  “So not setting up traps like but…what? Arrows? Slingshot? That’s proper peng, man. Well wicked.  I want in on that, yeah.” 

Emre tilted his chin up, watching as Finn excused himself to instruct someone about something to do with plagues and aphids.  It was interesting, to see the difference between this Finn on the farm, and Tomas with the farm.  Tomas had a more socialist, holistic way of dealing with others.  Finn, by contrast, was all about handing out orders and lessons; and the way these people seemed to regard Finn with expressions nothing short of obedience and admiration,  it clearly had some effect.  So Finn had loyal followers, it seemed.  Like if they were back in the outside world, his insta DMs would always be blowing up.

It was interesting, to witness.

Emre grunted, when Finn returned to bemoan the large task of whatever responsibilities he’d assigned himself on this island.  It wasn’t exactly necessary, from what Emre had learned in his short time here; no one forced anyone to work, everyone was fed and basic needs were met.  This Finn had decided on his own that he wasn’t allowed to take breaks, it seemed.  That working on the island, needed to be his life.

“How long’ve you been on Meridium, then?” Emre asked curiously.

Emre had no idea what Finn rambled about nutrients and proteins.  It sounded like some sort of bragging, which was all fair and well.  Nothing wrong with taking pride in his skillset, Emre believed, especially here.  The proof was in the pudding, given how beloved Finn seemed to be.

“Right.  Well - point me where you want me, and we’ll have at it, yeah?”

Finley let out a chuckle as the man seemed really lost for a second about their hunting style around there. “Well, not everyone uses arrows but... if you want to set up traps and wait sitting there for 12 hours straight without moving and waiting for something to be caught, I won’t stop you.” He shrugged with a smirk as waiting to get some reaction from him.

It’s not that Finn was dramatic or trying to convince him to do things his way, he was just being honest, that’s something that never changed about Finn, he was honest. Even when trying to help someone he would always give them choices, they were free to choose. “I like arrows cause with them I can just walk really slow, kill something, get it and come back. Setting up traps and waiting for something to show up is always too boring, and we can’t come back and just go check the trap the next day cause there are other animals who will steal your food if you’re not there.”

As they were talking, Finn was analysing that guy, he seemed friendly, but Finley would always take a while before trusting people, specially the ones who arrived not that long ago. “Sometimes I don’t even know for sure.” He replied to his question. “When I arrived here It took mea real long time to start helping or even trying to. Took me another while to stop putting my life at risk when trying to scape this island, and later took me another while to stop crying about it. So... about 25 years now.” He nodded, his eyes seemed lost for a second, almost like they wanted to tear up but Finn didn’t even had time or tears for that. He shook his head and let out a sigh, pulling those feelings away for a moment and bringing back his usual short smile “Well, there’s a lot of boxes still coming from everywhere, I’ll be heading to check the huntings right after these guys finish packing these oranges, so maybe if you help here, I can teach you there.”

—— Carefully, like a gentle rain on dry Earth  

Trust me when I say that I miss cooking some lobsters with butter or cheesecakes, but here we want to focus more on the proteins and nutrients on our food so everyone can be as healthy and strong as possible, so things like a coconut and fish curry or beef curry with four types of seeds that are very rich in proteins and nice fat, some spicy crunchy salads with kale, tomatoes and spinach that are great for the bones and helps avoid osteoporosis and keep the immune system strong, some sweet potato gnocchi with goat cheese, green leafs, mushroons, tomato sauce and quinoa oil, things like that. Is not about doing fancy stuff, is about making sure everyone has enough proteins, nutrients and carbohydrates in their bodies to do their work and to keep their bodies as healthy as possible. That’s what I’m doing here.

—

Luke does not even so much as blink at Finn’s words. “Nope. You’re not allowed to die on me. Whose aim am I supposed to make fun of then?” He says. This is not the first time they joked about their mortality, and Luke’s response has always been the same. Not that it’s any of his business, if he had to choose one way or the other, he would have Finn alive. “Oh, so you’re swearing off rabbit meat, then?” He cackles before he inadvertently moves his left arm and hurts himself. At the mention of Hardy not letting him off the hook, Luke turns his eyes away, scratching his chin awkwardly. After a small sigh, he confesses. “He… might not know yet, and I’d like to keep it that way, so y’know. Not a word.” His eyes warn that he will throw Finn off the cliff if it goes to Hardy’s ears. “And it’s not like he’s the boss of me. I can take time off if I wanted to.” He argues. He was doing the delivery out of… well, a contractual obligation. Though he grumbles and complains, Luke always finishes his job. 

There are other ways to fill the time then working at the Farm, he thinks to himself but doesn’t vocalize it. None of his business, not his decision. As much as Luke feels comfortable working alone, Finn has his preference and process. Finn is more of a people person, anyway, relatively speaking. “If you say so, Blondie.” He relents and leaves it at that. He raises a brow at that poor attempt at an insult. “What do you mean I look pregnant? I am with child, and it’s yours.” He counters with his trademark deadpan joke.

He rolls his eyes again. On the topic of Tomas Hardy that is pretty common. “Well, it’s not my fault that every time he sees me he goes into a lecturing mode.” He grumbles under the breath. He looks at Finn and then wonders, if Hardy gives such a hard time on everyone else. Probably less things to lecture for Finn, but he can’t imagine Hardy without that ‘I need to impart my wisdom so shut up and listen’ scowl. “And the cocky one, apparently.” He adds, although he does agree mostly. “Hey, I’ve never said anything about being nice.” He points out with a brazen grin. “It’s not like I’m scamming ‘em. I’m just tryna lead an honest living.”

“Oh so now you’re saying you need me?” He put both arms crossed while facing Luke as making suppositions to annoy him. “So that means I’m a person of vallue to you? And that finally I’ll be hearing you say it out loud that I’m your best friend? Is that what is happening right now?” Luke wasn’t really a tought guy, he was just a guy who needed a really long time to get used to having actual friends and people who would be there for him whenever he needed. He had a tough past, something they both had in common but still, in different ways. Maybe that’s why Finn liked being around him that much, he cares that his friend won’t be alone anymore, cause he knows how that feels like.

“I didn’t even had that rabbit meat, I got it cleaned and ready to cook but the other rats working with me were faster than my eyes could see.” He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh followed by a grin. “Wait a minute.” He paused it, looking at Luke with a brow raised “He doesn’t know you almost lost an arm? Oh nice, so you’re for sure having a monologue pretty soon about your hunting today.” He nodded. “He’s not our boss, but he’s kinda like the guy who’s mostly in charge of... most things, so...” Finn shrugged, he wasn’t trying to defent Tomas or anything, but anyway.

When talking about Finn’s ways of keeping his mind busy, he would feel somehow good to see that his friends wouldn’t try to change his mind for long, they knew it was better for him to have his mind busy than leaving it with enough time to think too much on too many things he shouldn’t worry. “The only way for that child be mine is if I’m the holy spirit and that’s Jesus cause I’m pratically a virgin for the past... few years.” He shook his head as a short laugh got out, he wasn’t lying, but that wasn’t exactly something that would ever bother him.

“Lecturing mode? What?” His expression changed in confusion. “Wait... no bitch, I’m not talking about goddamn Tomas, I’m talking about the suspicious newbie you apparently made deals with to teach hunting, you don’t even know if the guys is dangerous or not.” He sighed at Luke’s slow thoughts. “I’m not cocky, I’m limited edition. respect.” He had a playfull tone to his voice, as holding back a smile. “Your honest living won’t put you in front of another axe thrower, I hope.”

Celtic Tree Symbol: “ 𝙷𝚊𝚠𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗  —— 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚝”