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Everyone has a mandatory task to complete by 11 pm EST 7/31. The post has been up for four days, you can find it HERE. 

In Full Swing || Headcanon || Aug 1st - 10th

Now that Thane had been back in England for a good few weeks, they had finally begun filming. As always, Thane loved when filming began. The stages were set up to look like a whole different time, and Thane adored it. He enjoyed acting in places that set the tone. Green screen bits were a little more difficult, and he felt like this was where being a good actor was important. You had to completely pretend you knew what everything looked like, you had to look in the right directions for everything, and still convey the proper emotions. All the same, everything still felt as though it were falling back into place for him. He felt, once again, that he was where he belonged. It didn’t take long, however, before all of the long hours filming caught up with him.

It wasn’t unusual for a person to try and find a quiet spot to sleep on set if they knew they would be called back to film in only a moment. Most times Thane would try to go back to his trailer where it was quiet, but he didn’t want to stray too far. He found this area, nobody seemed to really bother with it too much. He laid back on the surface, it was hard, but he honestly didn’t mind since he had been on his feet for hours before this. The hustle and bustle of set lulled him to sleep easily, not even bothering him while he slept. Thane wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep before he heard his name, and he sat up looking around for the person who had said his name. Hair and makeup were on him quickly, only fixing a few strands of hair, and touching up what they’d already done with regards to the makeup.

His days went on much like this, when he would be finished he found himself headed to London as often as he could. He ate at all his usual spots, shopped a bit for clothes that were much more his style than what he found in LA, and he’d take in the sights again. When Thane wasn’t wandering around the city, he would be in his hotel room asleep, or he would call Gia and catch up with her about her day. Sometimes he would call her from set, if it worked out that way, but he was sure to make time to either FaceTime with her, or just talk to her on the phone. Their time apart had certainly made Thane miss her more, but at the same time their relationship was so brand new that he still didn’t know what the future would hold for them. The conversations that they shared made him optimistic for what was to come, however, in a way that he had never felt before. 

Doughnuts, Demanding Days, and Dandelion Fields  || August 1 - 10.

The beginning of August saw an influx of weddings. A Miss Drew married a Miss Donahue, Mr. Fredricksen a Miss Stein, and so on. Shearing had left a patch of ground gray, and its soil was left to sit in the rotation of ground. With that month’s planting, the log book gained another ten pages. A newly minted hybrid breed bore her baby boy’s name. (It would, amusingly, pair best with Lullie’s named rose.)

At the end of these demanding days, each of her bones would ache, throbbing with the task of growing a new human. “Maman, you’re growing baby brother like you grow flowers.” Tallulah would muse at of the one particularly long evening. It was true. Elfie had done in all her power to ensure her son a placid gestation, following the latest medical journal to the letter as she would her farmer’s almanac.

Goodness no! We never expect people to do 7 days of activity in less than that! 

I have already completed the AU participation check and the AU blog has the log and the activity blog made the announcement that it was completed. No warnings were sent 1x1, the characters were simply moved to the next warning tier.

The phone call from the nurse brought back a whole host of bad memories from his mother’s death. They had told him down the phone that his father was deteriorating fast, and the best thing to do was to come and see him. It hurt him so much to see his father that way, a shadow of  a man, laying between bed sheets that drowned him. He saw his siblings surrounding the bed, supporting one another and their father, and felt the tinge of pain in his chest that had been a constant after his mother’s death.

For the most part, moving to LA had felt like a vacation in itself for Blossom. Most of the sunshine, the beaches, and even the people had been unreal. Yet, after two months of hard work at the zoo, and adjusting to the new lifestyle, she couldn’t help but feel like she needed to wind down. Her boss at work was more than happy to give her two weeks off for adjustment to the new environment. The first thing she did was rush to the travel agent.

The first plane out of there was heading to Malta, a gorgeous country that Blossom was already familiar with. She took it, bags packed with only essentials, and only told her mother and her boss. Whilst there, she didn’t check her mobile or her laptop once. She interacted with locals, lounged in the sun, and really experienced the culture above all. Finally, she felt like herself again, and that felt good.

TAKE ME BACK TO THE START | Zephyr Dresden: Death Prompt

... it would be the same dark things that grabbed Zephyr at her most vulnerable and stole her away too.

     There were a lot of things Zephyr wanted to do with her life, and they were things she had planned for a long time. She was going to perform for as long as she could, but when she was old enough she wanted to settle down. She wanted to get married, she wanted to have children, a family. What she wanted was her place in the world, and she hadn’t found that just yet.

     What she feared the most, however, was not having the opportunity to find it. Zephyr was scared she was going to have something taken away that was going to compromise her plan, and being on that damn island was compromising a lot. Things happened, weird things that she definitely didn’t like, and as more days passed the weirder things got. Her dreams were strange, the people were different, and everything seemed to be off. How, she didn’t know, but nothing seemed right.

     Finally, after too many unfortunate events that Zephyr managed to push into the back of her mind, repressing as much as she could, it was time to go home. Home. Even the word made her feel better because “home” meant Mom and Dad. It meant their puppy, her brothers and sisters that she desperately wanted to fix things with after having the scare of her life. Los Angeles was where she could be with her friends, where things could blossom into -- ... Well, into whatever they needed to blossom into. Los Angeles was, after all, where dreams came true. It had been good to her so far, so why wouldn’t it continue to be that way?

     That question came to fast as she found herself floating. She thanked God over and over again for Marcie, recognizing that without her she wouldn’t be okay right now. She was thankful for Taney, for Tomlin for always being available to talk to and for comforting her when she definitely wasn’t okay. She was happy that she had the opportunity to meet Thane who understood more than most what she was dealing with as a celebrity. She was so blessed to have the opportunity she has had, to be able to travel the world and meet people who she changed through her music. It was nice to know that she was an important part of people’s lives without having met them, and she was sure that if this ended the way she felt like it was going to, she would feel fulfilled. She had a good run in the twenty-three years she lived, so this? This was fine.

     Twenty-three years -- that seemed awfully short now.

     Twenty-three years, and that was what she had. That’s what she had accepted as she floated further and further away.

BLACK WATER | Georgianna Leib: Death Prompt

When Georgianna spun dizzily in the crowded water, kicked by others trying to swim away from the sinking ferry, she too would be dragged into the lake’s depths.

     1, 2, 3 -- breathe.

     That’s all she needed to do. Gia just needed to breathe, but she couldn’t. Whatever shook the ferry, whatever came so close to her and Thane who were, only seconds before the violent rocking came, discussing what they were going to do when they got home, shook everything out of her, too. Perhaps she was stunned, perhaps she was injured and hadn’t clued in yet, but something just made her stop.

    1, 2 ,3 -- breathe.

     Finally, she did. Gia’s lung expanded and in that second her brain switched to survival mode. The water was rushing around her legs quickly, filling the ferry, and despite the chaos and panic around her all Gia could do was think of the fastest way to live. That motivated her actions, a hand tight around Thane’s as she pulled, and pulled, and pulled until they were at the edge of the sinking boat, her knowing that if they wanted any kind of chance they needed off. So, Gia turned, fully prepared to get the plan past her lips as quickly as possible, but all she could see was crimson. It seemed to everywhere, rushing down from the back of Thane’s head and soaking into the shirt he was wearing, and suddenly breathing wasn’t possible again.

     1, 2, 3 -- breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

     “We have to go.” The breath came, and what fell out were those words. It would be a different plan now that she knew Thane was injured, because she had no idea just how bad it was but right now she didn’t have the time to figure it out. Right now they needed to get off, and they needed to get off now. Offering a reassuring nod and a promise that she wouldn’t let go, Gia looked back over the edge and swallowed, taking only a second before she was flinging herself over the side to barrel towards the choppy water.

     It was cold. Freezing, even. Cold enough that the shock pushed everything out of her, forcing her to exhale and emptying the oxygen from her body.

     1, 2, 3 -- breathe.

     Once Gia surfaced she took it, using her free hand to push the water from her eyes and the other to push back her hair. Her other. Her other hand that was no longer tightly grasping the hand that she was holding only moments before.

     The panic set in. The fact that her feet weren’t touching anything, the fact that she was surrounded by too many people, and the fact that she was no longer connected to Thane made her panic. She looked to her right, to her left, back to her right but she couldn’t spot the mop of dark curls she was looking for. Her name was what caught her attention, pulling her gaze into the right direction and that’s when she saw him after he yelled out, too far with too many people in between them. Still, she swam. Rather she tried to, but it seemed like the closer she got to where Thane was, the further away he was moved. Or maybe she wasn’t moving. Gia couldn’t tell, but she kept trying.

     1 stroke, 2 strokes, 3 strokes -- breathe. 1 stroke, 2 strokes, 3 strokes -- breathe. 1 stroke, 2 strokes -- breathe. 1 stroke -- breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

     “Thane!”

     God, he was so far. He was too far. The stretch of her arm was useless, the weight of it simply slapping the water before she was hurling forward and trying to propel her while she swam once again. He was yelling back, telling her to save herself, telling her that it was fine but she simply ignored it. She kept swimming.

     1, 2, 3 -- breathe.

     Again, Gia heard her name and she paused, popping up to the best of her ability and turning into the direction she thought she heard it from. Thane wasn’t there. She turned when she heard him call out again, and she swam more. It wasn’t him, he wasn’t there. And there were so many people, so many people that looked the same, and with the water that was splashing into her eyes she wasn’t able to tell anyone apart. Still, she kept swimming, and she kept swimming in whatever direction she was going in despite feet slamming into her ribs as people tried to move around her. A hand slammed into her cheek, an elbow rammed itself into her mouth. Gia tasted blood. She spit it out, and she swam. 

     Another kick, another punch, a third punch, an elbow, a kick. She was tired, and she was sore. Gia couldn’t hear Thane anymore, and with that realization sinking in she slowed.

     1 ... 2 ... 3 ... breathe.

     She stopped.

    1 ... 2 ... 3 ... breathe.

     Something was around her waist, gripping, pulling, and ripping. It was heavy. They were heavy. There was more. Hands. Hands were grabbing at her and she couldn’t fight. She didn’t want to fight. They pulled, and she let them.

     1 ... 2 ... 3 ... breathe.

     Gia sucked in a breath before she was pulled under, her body weightless in the water and she watched as the surface got further and further away. It was bright, and then it wasn’t. It was dark. So dark.

     1 ... 2 ... 3 ... exhale.

     Her lungs emptied again, and they emptied for the last time because there was no air around her, it was just water. Dark water. 

     1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

     Black water.