Banyan Tree Resort, Saturday [Morning / Afternoon]

[endsthegame]

Yesterday's clouds hadn't left the sky: in fact, visitors could expect the odd spot of rain today. Not that the temperature had dropped, rising one degree to 28 celsius - or 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

But don't let the rainclouds chase you off: there was still plenty to do, including an island-hopping cruise arranged especially for the school (Lovey Howell didn't do things by halves). Enjoy yourselves!

Comments

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade was eager to change the subject away from Jedi anyway. "Into what?"

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

Now it felt kind of stupid to say it. "A coyote. I can shift into a coyote whenever I want."

She looked up at him nervously. "But you can't tell anyone okay?"

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Cade said easily. "What's a coyote?"

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy had to laugh. Of all the responses she might have considered, that had never been one she'd thought of. She pulled out her phone and called up a page on canis latrans.

"Here," she said, offering it to him. "It's a small animal, in the dog and wolf family."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Oh, like the spirit animal things from a few weeks ago," Cade said. "Mine was a hyena."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

She nodded. "Yeah. Not too different. So, anyway, yeah... It's why my mother didn't keep me. She walked in one day and found a coyote pup in the crib and... it was just too hard. So she found a safe place for me to live."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Animal park?"

Beat.

"Or was that horribly insensitive?"

Probably the second thing, Cade.

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

"Yeah, that would have gone over well," Mercy said, half-laughing despite - or maybe because of - how horribly insensitive that was. "And then randomly there's a little naked toddler running around the animal park. I'd have lasted like 5 minutes."

She shook her head. "No, she found a great-uncle who was a were - um, who knew of a community where I wouldn't be as different and they found me foster parents there."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"That was a pretty nice abandonment, all things considered," Cade replied.

His mother hadn't even said goodbye.

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

"Yeah, it's not like she just dumped me and never came back," Mercy agreed. "We had those yearly vacations when she could get up to Aspen Creek."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Next year you should ask to go to Africa," Cade said with a grin.

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

Her smile fell off a little. "Technically I live with her now. They made me leave Aspen Creek. And I'm not sure my mom's whole new secret family would be interested in going to Africa."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade's eyebrow quirked up. "Secret family?"

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy turned away slightly, staring out over the water for a moment before answering. "When they made me leave Aspen Creek - sent me back to my mother... Well, when I turned up on her doorstep, I found out that she was married with two kids. The oldest was only a couple years younger than me. She'd been coming to see me for 16 years and somehow forgotten to tell me she had a whole family back home?"

She sighed and turned back toward him. "The kicker is that they had no idea I even existed either till I showed up that day."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Awkward," Cade said dryly.

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

"No kidding," she said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, her new husband really just took me in and everyone's been really great to me, but... I know I don't fit. And they're all normal and I'm not and... yeah. Fandom's just easier."

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Normal's overrated," Cade said with a little shrug. "How long do you have left in Fandom?"

Re: Hopping Islands [13/10: Morning/Afternoon]

[walkswithcoyote]

"Almost two years," Mercy said. "You?"