{"id":4096,"date":"2019-09-25T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T04:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4096"},"modified":"2019-09-24T19:23:16","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T23:23:16","slug":"twenty-three-05-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4096","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo which part, exactly, are we voting on?\u201d Jacqueline asked.\u00a0 The question came quietly, no judgement or doubt in her tone\u2014a simple, matter-of-fact question.\u00a0 Her gaze was intent as she watched Matt, hugging her knee against her chest, a basket of fabric scraps near her foot.\u00a0 \u201cWhether or not we want to enact whatever plan we hammer out in the early hours of the morning, how we want to handle those staying behind, what?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBoth, I think,\u201d Kellin said, a faint frown creasing her forehead.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, I think it should be both, though I have a gut feeling that I know what way at least one of those votes is going to go.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matt\u2019s stomach sank again and he hoped he was dead wrong about which vote she was talking about and what direction she suspected it would go in.\u00a0 At the end of the day, though, how they handled the situation wasn\u2019t solely his choice to make\u2014it never had been.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In some ways, he was silently grateful<\/i> for that.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBoth,\u201d he said, his mouth dry, as if he\u2019d suddenly swallowed a mouthful of sand.\u00a0 \u201cWe vote on both and we do it now.\u201d\u00a0 As much as he dreaded the outcome, waiting seemed worse.\u00a0 If they voted against his proposed plan, they\u2019d need all the time they could muster to prepare for what was coming\u2014or to evacuate and put as much distance between them and Orcus\u2019s forces as possible.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure what he would do if they voted against his plan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His stomach roiled and he swallowed hard.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Breathe.\u00a0 Just breathe.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAll right, then,\u201d Kellin said softly.\u00a0 \u201cThen let\u2019s do it so we can get to work.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo which part, exactly, are we voting on?\u201d Jacqueline asked.\u00a0 The question came quietly, no judgement or doubt in her tone\u2014a simple, matter-of-fact question.\u00a0 Her gaze was intent as she watched … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299,328,14],"tags":[275,271,150,161,163,171,170,228,194,160,174,19,227,166,152,181,151,149,173,148,218,168,147,167,165,215,158,200,169,146],"class_list":["post-4096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-23-book-7","category-story","tag-anne-mackenzie","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-hecate","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-kellin","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-leinth","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-rory-ohara","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-144","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4097,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions\/4097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}