#w:rye

[river-phillips]

[TXT] So i’m good as new now. Saw a doctor in town and got some magical healing.

[TXT] Sorry it’s been a few days. I’ve got a lot on my mind.

[TXT] ALSO guess who has a new job!? 

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

Fish Food | River & Riss

River found herself there again, waiting for takeout at the register of a greasy diner. It was bad for her, she knew. Real artery clogging food with too many carbs and sugar. She shouldn’t be eating it. Part of her wondered for a moment if her metabolism was the same as a human. Probably not something to bank on. How many times had she come here and gotten almost the same exact order after getting off work? She’d lost count. 

She told herself that this time it was because one of her coworkers had given her a gift card to the place. She had to use it, right? Then she’d stop coming for a while. Make some food at home. Food being ramen noodles and bread, but still. For now, she stood there, fiddling around on her phone, trying her best to not draw attention to herself as the staff gave her looks. There were whispers between them that River was trying to ignore. 

‘This is the 17th day in a row she got the same thing. I’ve been counting.’

‘That’s weird that you kept count, Janice.’

‘I’M weird? 17 days, dude! And she’s always here at like the same time every single day. On the fucking dot. Like what the hell?’

River could feel herself turning red. She wished they’d just give her her food already. She buried her face more into her phone to try to shut out the failed whispers from the workers. Her free hand came up to let her start nibbling on her nails from nerves. 

Finally, they brought her food to her, and River was ready to bolt out of there, but the worker apparently named Janice had something to say before she could run out of there. “You’ve gotten take out here, like, a lot in the past month. Do you like not have friends or something? Maybe like cool it?” If River wasn’t red in the face before, she was now, from both anger and embarrassment.

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

Espresso Yourself | River & Riss

For as long as River had been drinking coffee, she drank it black. She loved the bitterness. She felt like people adding all this cream and sugar and whipped cream on their coffee were just ruining the taste. It was the same reason she didn’t like to season her meat before she ate it, or salt her fries. If she was going to consume something, she wanted to taste what she’d set out to eat or drink, not all the add ons that just masked it away.

But today she found herself in Bean Me Up and her eyes were wandering. Not just to the pretty barista making some blended drink behind the guy taking orders, but to the menu board as well. She hadn’t even bothered really looking at it the past couple months. Every coffee shop had black coffee, and all the pastries and sandwiches were displayed in those glass cases, so she’d had no reason to look up. But today she was, and there were so many words that were gibberish to her. Latte? Americano? Macchiato? Sure, she’d heard the terms before, but she had no idea what they meant or what was in them. 

And suddenly the urge hit her. She wanted to try one. One of what? She wasn’t sure yet. She could always just ask the guy what things were when she got up there, but that sounded terrifying. Plus that fact that she’d look stupid in front of cute barista that would definitely be able to hear her. Plus there were still handful of people behind her. Holding up the line and getting the scowls that came with it didn’t sound like a good time. She still had a few more people in front of her in line though, so she came up with a new plan. Turning and leaning back a little, she addressed the person behind her. “Hey, hi, uh....sorry to bother you but like...what do you recommend here?” She turned her body a little more to face them. “Because I usually get black coffee and I...I think I want to try something new.”

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

[TXT] Hey

[TXT] How’s your kitchen holding up?

[TXT] This is River btw

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

A very soft clean bird landed on River’s open window and cooed at her. Attached to one of its legs was a handwritten note that read: 

“Call your mom." 

”-Rye" 

[river-phillips]

Wishful Thinking

River was reluctant to do what she was about to do. So much so, that she sat in Rye’s driveway for what felt like hours as she contemplated if she was actually going to go inside. She needed someone to lean on. Someone to profess her feelings to in this weird moment in her life. But that also meant dragging Rye into whatever was going on with her. Sure, they’d volunteered themselves to protect her with their near-indestructibleness, but that was from outside forces. That was from someone about to plunge a knife into her chest, not take the brunt of her weird rage-residue if, God forbid, she had another episode.

Rye’s charity didn’t mean River had a right to burden them. It didn’t help that River still didn’t know where the hell the two of them stood. Rye had said they were dating, but things had been sort of weird between them after Canada. Rye had seemed ever so slightly more distant. River was all for letting her partner be independent. As clingy as she was as a person, she needed her own space sometimes too. But this was different. Rye was distant even when they were there with her. River’s feelings had definitely intensified as time went on. Rye meant a hell of a lot to her. But at the same time, she wasn’t even sure what feelings were her own anymore...

With Maya understandably wanting her distance, Iann still a bit miffed at her, and not wanting to drag Ash into this any further right now though, Rye was the only person River could turn to. She didn’t feel she deserved the help, but she knew she needed it, if only for a moment. So she wiped her puffy, red, tear stained eyes with her flannel sleeve and finally slid out of the driver’s seat, dragging herself up to Rye’s front door and knocking weakly. Hesitantly. 

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

Where the waves kiss the shore Where the roots tangle me more Where the land meets the sea That’s where you’ll find me…

detailed version

@pinequeer

[river-phillips]

Truth Be Told | River & Rye

When River’s sister Kai had called her, she’d nearly had a panic attack before picking up the phone. It wasn’t like they were a family that just called each other to say hi, so if she was calling, that meant something was wrong. And of course, River’s mind flew to the worst case scenario. But thankfully, nobody was dead. No, Kai was just running into some supernatural plant problems that even a local witch couldn’t fix for her, and she figured since River was currently in a town specifically for the supernatural, she might know someone that could help.

Lucky for Kai, River knew just the person. She’d called Rye up and, though she was nervous to ask for their help, she asked anyway. It wasn’t even asking for the help that really bothered her....it was the commitment of the trip. Rye meeting part of her family. A 19 hour drive into Canada, alone in the RV together. It was gonna be a multi day trip, the two stuck together. River didn’t think of it that way, as ‘stuck’, but she was scared of what would happen if eventually Rye did. What if they got tired of her?

So far the drive had been good though. A lot of idle conversation, but also some intimate sharing as well. She shared her own coming out story, talked about her life on the farm a little more, even talked about her adoptive dad’s tractor accident when she was 7. They were only about 5 hours away now, having left the US of A behind them a couple hours before. River was tired, sucking down coffee in an attempt to stay awake. Rye was seated close by, Jackson fast asleep on their feet. They’d both been silent for a while, and it surprisingly hadn’t bothered River like most silence did. But something was eating away at her as they got closer and closer to their destination. She couldn’t put this off any longer. It was the same feeling she’d had when moving in with Ash. Guilt.

“Rye, I need to tell you something,” she started, struggling to swallow from her dry throat, the heat in the RV on blast for Rye’s sake. Before Rye could even respond, she dove in, and proceeded to tell them everything. All about how her parents had scattered her siblings when River was still a baby because one of her brothers had been murdered. Her five year quest to track them all down. Why she was in Soapberry Springs to find more information on her parents. Her meeting with the Sheriff. Finding out about Leeman Calloway bailing her parents, both bio and adopted, out of jail a few times. How Calloway was a witch, was dead, and they’d gone to his house. About the strange dream vision she’d gotten from the watch they’d found at his place. And even about her last phone call with her mother. 

It had been almost word for word what she’d told Ash. Like a rehearsed monologue. She’d recited it so many times in her head it felt like fiction at this point. But no, it was harsh reality. A reality she had to face. “That was like, a lot, I know...” She sighed. “I’m telling you all this because, yeah, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. Two of us sisters in one place could spell disaster....or maybe I’m just being a paranoid wreck.” Running a frustrated hand over her face, she sighed again. “I should have told you before we left. Gave you a way to back out. I’m sorry. I can turn around if you want me to.” Her negative emotions must have woken Jackson, because he was up now and his ears were pinned back as the tried to nuzzle Rye’s hands as if to apologize as well. 

@pinequeer