In the scene where Jo Yeong compares his relationship with Gon with Shin Jae and Tae Eul’s he is lowkey admitting he is in love with Gon and you can’t convince me otherwise
I’m hoping this chapter find everyone safe and sound. Normally, I wouldn’t start off with something like that, but I am queueing this on 11/5/2020, and a lot has happened in our world. Not just my country, but earthquakes, shootings.. it’s a lot.
Please be safe. My only, most sincere hope, is that reading this can bring you some relief from everything going on. And if you are reading this far after the fact - I’m glad you’re here to read it. I appreciate each and every follower and reader, and I just want you all to be okay.
As always, shoutouts go to @baelpenrose for beta reading this chapter, @raven-fae for being the reason I dared to post my scribbles in public, and @charlylimph-blog for being a bright light in a dark world. Charly, I don’t think you will ever know how much everyone loves you. I mean that. And finally, @zommbiebro for the ever-fun to write character of Jokul. You pushed and pushed to have this character exist, and I’m incredibly glad you did, because he is so much fun to play with.
“Antoine told me that Conor is going back to therapy,” Tyche mentioned nonchalantly as we were heading toward the exercise area.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean back to therapy? I didn’t know he ever stopped.”
She flapped a hand at me. “You know what I mean. Not a touchbase appointment, a ‘this isn’t working’ appointment.”
“Ah,” was my sage reply. “Yeah, there was a tense moment. To be fair, though, it’s the first time anything like that has happened since he started seeing someone, and I think it needed to happen.”
“In what world…” she started, hands on her hips as she stopped walking.
Turning, I held up my hand to cut her off. “The last time someone was upset about what has been triggering Conor, I ended up with a busted lip.” I stared at her meaningfully.
She stared blankly for a moment, and I could almost hear her brain whirring. Then her eyes got wide and her mouth narrowed into a small ‘o’. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Ohhhhhh…. Well that makes sense I guess. So, does that mean you and Maverick…?”
“Yep, group therapy!” I threw my hands up half-heartedly. “And there was much rejoicing. Yay.”
Her gaze snapped over my shoulder and her neck twisted as something caught her attention. “What the…” She blinked furiously before rubbing her eyes and squinting. “I’m hallucinating. I have to be.” Without waiting for me to ask what she meant, she grabbed my shoulders and turned me around.
Now it was my turn to blink. Walking towards, very focused on what looked to be a heated discussion, were none other than Arthur Farro and Jokull Bjornson. But… they weren’t arguing. Both looked to be wearing gym clothes, and I could tell they were sweaty even from so far away. As they got closer, they both also appeared to be bruised, and Jokul was even bleeding from the corner of his mouth. Regardless of all that, the animated way they were talking to each other looked more like a conversation between equals than it did the type of discussion that would lead to….
Well, that would lead to the fight they looked like they already had.
Soon enough, they noticed me and Tyche - it couldn’t have been hard. We were standing in the middle of the corridor, staring in shock and tilting our heads like it would force the scene to make more sense. “Reids!” Arthur greeted as he waved. “I need you two to settle an argument. Fortifications, yay or nay?”
“I thought the sentient bacterium and twelve-foot talking mushrooms were the weirdest thing I would ever see….” Tyche muttered.
I was far more eloquent. “I…. Arthur… this… what?” I sputtered, gesturing frantically between the two men.
Some part of that seemed to make sense, because he glanced at the taller man beside him and just shrugged. “Jokull wanted to practice hand to hand combat, and I’m the only one willing to hit him after the… Exhibition match? Everyone on the ship was nervous for some reason. Well, except Charly, of course.”
Jokull shook his head. “I feel my chances of survival with Farro are far higher than another fight with Miss Harper.”
Arthur eyed him weirdly, clearing his throat. “That’s because there is zero chance of me missing and ripping your throat out by accident, because I don’t bite.”
“Indeed.”
“There is zero chance of Charly missing,” I interjected. “And that was once, and you had it coming.”
Arthur continued, ignoring me. “Anyway, it’s not like anyone else on the Ark wanted to spar with me after that little show, either. So, win-win. Besides, he’s not a bad guy when he’s not doing things to make me actively want to kill him.”
Jokull laughed, but I was pretty sure he didn’t realize that Arthur was only half joking. Maybe half.
“Again, I’m sure Charly would spar with you, Arthur,” I pointed out. Tyche choked on laughter.
Arthur just looked at me like I spontaneously grew a third head and it happened to be drooling. “What part of she bites did you miss?”
“That. Was. One! Time!
“Besides, I’ve seen how you small women learned to fight in the After. I don’t know how hard I’d have to hit her to get her to stop biting, and I’d rather not hit a student hard enough to find out.”
Jokull mumbled, “Surprisingly hard, and in a nerve cluster, apparently.”
Both of us looked at him, eyes narrowed. Arthur’s next words came out very slowly. “If you’ve decked Charly, Jokull, you are on a fast track back to ‘let’s try axe versus saber’.”
Jokull turned to me frantically, “Councillor, I wasn’t aware…”
I interrupted him, again. “Arthur, it was that time she chomped his collarbone. Old news.”
Arthur was still scowling. “As long as that was the only time…” He shook his head, clearing the glare from his expression. “Anyway, it’s been kind of fun, actually. We’ve been comparing notes about our experiences in the After. What it was like for our groups, people we skirmished with, things we did to keep our territories safe and our people provided for…”
Jokull nodded, very seriously. “We have discussed several ideas regarding sustainable settlements and potential fortifications once we reach Von, along with distribution of resources and sheltering against winter months.”
“I’m pro-fortification, by the way,” I responded, now that I was caught up on the context of that question.
Arthur scowled at me and shook his head. “Et tu, Sophia? The need for any fortifications is still up in the air, but the rest are really solid.”
“I told you, Farro, fortifications against people are also fortifications against wildlife.”
“And I told You the odds of predators on Von are very low. Grey said so theirself.”
“Moose. I’m talking about moose. We don’t need predators if there are herbivores that large!”
“Grey insists there aren’t any indigenous species larger than Lyric on Von.”
“Have you met a badger? Really…”
As they started arguing, I slowly turned to Tyche, meeting her matching wide-eyed expression. “Did we somehow walk into a parallel universe?”
“I don’t think so?” She turned toward the fierce debate. “For what it’s worth, I’m anti-fortification.”
“SEE!? One of the Weird Sisters has sense!” Arthur crowed triumphantly.
“Councillor Reid is on my side!”
As the debate grew more heated, I whispered to Tyche. “You love fortifications,” I pointed out.
“But that wouldn’t have added fuel to the fire,” she replied, magnanimous as ever.
I rolled my eyes, before trying to shout over the men. “We’re headed to the gym! Stop at a medbay pleasethankyou!”
Arthur waved at the same time that Jokul gave me a thumbs-up, but neither stopped their debate for even a breath.
Shaking my head, I tugged Tyche away. “Boxing today?” She hated boxing.
“Hmmm.”
“Ark to Tyche,” I gently shook her arm to get her attention. “Unarmed workout today. Boxing?”
“Huh?” She snapped her head at me and everything caught up. “What? No. Have you lost your mind?”
“It’s my turn to choose.”
“Just. Not that.”
“Ugh, fine,” I groaned dramatically. “Something with cardio, though. We both could use it with the gravity increases.”
“And what about armed workout.” For all that we were in a relatively peaceful situation, we were far from the only people on the Ark who practiced with weapons on a regular basis.
“Knives, duh.”
“Fighting or throwing?” She glanced at my expression and rolled her eyes. “Throwing. Of course. Why did I bother asking….”
