#exanimate story idea

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi had a “good demon” chart. Every time he does a chore, behaves, or helps out around the house he gets a gold star on his chart. 3 stars gets him an hour out of his room, 5 stars gets him a the whole night out of his room, and 10 stars lets him go out of the house for the night (with limited supervision from either Luis or Eliza).

The chart was originally for Reuben, but they stopped when he got older..

[fayythe]

Divine Love: Chapter Two

Henry Cavill X OFC

Summary: Rhylan Daines property of the United States Government, the training she took on, the beating, and pain was all manipulating her to loose her body autonomy, they tell her to eat a certain way, talk, walk, act. Nothing is hers, how can she escape the torture her life has become? Now an semi-active black ops Navy Seal working for the CIA struggled to make peace with her past.  She was always told that every life she took, every person she tortured, and every soul she crushed was for the greater good, but how is more violence supposed to help the world?  How can acting help her stop being forced to kill?  How can finding love help her find herself? Only time will tell...

Trigger warnings: Slight Alcoholism, Assault, Kidnapping, Blood, Skin Branding, Heavy Depression, Drugs, Undiagnosed eating disorder, Forced Eugenics, Talk of Genocide, talk of war, talk of gore, Hospitalizations for medical reasons, Mental Health issues, Hitman/murder unrecognized by law, Profanity, Military Brutality, torture, terrorism, violence, scars, seizures.

Rhylan's Tattoos

Rhylan's Body Scars Diagram

There is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to death. Whether it's the mundane violence we do to our bodies by overeating toxic food or drink or the extreme violence of child abuse, domestic warfare, life-threatening poverty, addiction, or state terrorism. – Bell Hooks.

Chapter 2: Насилие

Насилие...Russian...violence

Few Days Later 

"So, Rhylan, how did you get that scar on your chest? It's quite large" James asked.

I was sitting on 'The Late Late Night Show', in the somewhat comfortable interview chair on a stage captured by a large audience all around the stage. I was wearing my strawberry blonde hair its natural straight down to my waste, some slightly overpriced black skinny jeans, a vintage band t-shirt and my black combat boots the ones gifted by my general's wife.

Nelia talked me into this appearance, I truly didn't want to be around people let alone on stage in front of people I didn't know. "It will be good press!" She said, trying to talk me into it, the whole 'good press' idea is always her excuse to force me into new environments I wasn't familiar with.

When I walked on the unfamiliar stage, I found myself exanimating everything I could. Every exit, every person, each security guard all lacking a weapon to defend. My military instincts were on overdrive, the lights, the cameras, the crowd laughing, everything gave me the worst bombing headache.

But the questions, the questions about the military I wasn't mentally prepared to answer. But I had to, people were going to spend their time trying to figure out the answer to my questions their own way.

I looked at James again, my brain on overdrive.

"I got shot in the field, I was alone, I had to perform surgery on myself to get the bullet out." I nearly choked out my explanation, remembering the pain, remembering the metallic smell of my blood, the fight I had to keep staying alive.

"Wow... that's some story, can you share anymore?"

I looked off in dazed, trying my best not to quiver at the thought of that mission.

"It's probably best not to." I spoke.

James nodded, looking back at his notes.

"Let's talk about something a bit more fun, people don't really know much about you!" He clapped showing his excitement.

I chucked, "My favorite color is black, if you didn't already know"

"Ha! I can see that, when you first walked on stage, I thought you just walked out of a hot topic." James joked and the crowd laughed.

"What's hot topic?" I questioned.

I'm not joking, what it is it? Did he mean hot pocket? That's a food...man I'm hungry, I'd eat a hot pocket right now even though I absolutely hate them. Nasty things.

The crowd laughed again and so did James.

"Okay, where are you from?"

"Houston" I pushed back a piece of my hair that fell out from behind my ear.

"Oh wow! You don't sound like you're from Texas. Do you still live there?" James asked, I nodded, I'll probably live alone in my house with my dog for a longtime...or forever.

"What is someone from Texas supposed to sound like?"

"I don't know maybe a bit of country tinge"

I laugh, "People from Texas especially the main cities don't generally sound like billies', is that assumed by everyone from another state that isn't the south, or just British?" I asked which made the crowd laugh, James just shrugged with a joking smile on his face.

Alright, I can play that game too.

I looked at the crowd, putting my best hick country accent I can manage which wasn't as bad as I had hoped.

"Alrigh' y'all dis' is wha' Mr.Corden thinks I should soun' like"

Everyone breaks down laughing all over again.

The rest of the interview wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I couldn't help myself from barely staying still towards the end of the interview. My flight home was so close, I could almost feel the horrible Texas humidity, and as much as I hated it, I missed it.

I was finally able to leave, my hatred for California was still at large from my previous experiences.

People didn't want to admit it, but California was corrupt, industries, politicians, even Hollywood, everything was twisted and coverups and bribes were at large in everything.

As much as I hate spending money, I chose to fly private, luckily though since I'm still considered an asset of the country the plain was US Government issued, untraceable, and completely off any commercial flight lists. Just what my mind needed, for the last few weeks my mind was a high alert. I found myself constantly looking for exists, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and exploitations.

Nelia was the one to drop me off at the off-grid plane port in the middle of nowhere. Before she left, a guy in a slick black suit wraparound sunglass, secret service, told her to "forget the place existed or she will no longer exist."

I kind of laughed, threaten Nelia? Yeah, this guy has got to be dumber than a box of rocks to threaten her.

And I was right, before my next thought a hand reached outside from the driver's side window to grab the shirt collar of the man leaning down.

I didn't hear exactly what was said, but as soon as the man stood straight and Nelia drove off the man was glued to the same position, I could practically see his eyes burning through his glasses.

It took a few seconds for him to shake out of it, but then he was able to walk towards me and take the bags I was carrying.

"I think I'm in love with her." He spoke walking up the steps of the plane.

"Well that was one heck of a start to a relationship."

We got into the plane, I took my shoes off and sat one on the fancy leather chairs buckling up for takeoff, the man sat in front of me.

"I was under command to let her know. Doesn't mean I wanted to say it."

The man spoke funny, like weird...thinking about it and connecting the dots in my mind

Michigan, he was from Michigan.

I looked at him, he sucked at not showing emotions, which meant he was complete shit at his job. No wonder he isn't CIA, or maybe even FBI, it be somewhat a better option than secret service, lame.

But hey, at lease he's not homeland security. Don't get me started on those fuckers.

Sidenote, he was under command?

"Command of what? Who?" I asked pressuring the man I didn't know.

He just took of his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer fingers, then folded his sunglasses neatly and putting them in his suit pocket.

"He told me you'd ask—" The man started,

"What 'He' as a male, son of a bitch" I slapped my thighs, that fucker.

"Then he said you'd be pissed off, and determine the details quickly"

"Yeah, Yeah, I get it. It was Dean. I know. Fucker. Next time you see him, I need you to do two things, first; lick your finger, get it nice and wet then stick it in his ear—or his ass, then I want you to kick him in the balls once he's off guard."

Who is Dean? Oh right that.

When I was first inducted into the Navy, my scores were off the charts. So much so they made me take ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Test) three times before they would believe that I wasn't cheating.

I don't understand how I scored so high, but the test score was near perfect, and I was able pretend I didn't have a learning disability growing up. Luckily, they never found that out.

I probably wouldn't be where I am today. To be honest, I wonder what life would've been like.

I was seventeen when I first joined, my mom and stepdad weren't happy about the idea and refused to let me join at first. They felt like my choices on career path changed to much and signing a contract for a job I couldn't get out of when I got bored wasn't a smart choice.

Plus, I was a girl. In my stepdads eyes, girls couldn't be successful soldiers, they weren't meant for it, strong enough for it.

Let's just say, I proved him wrong.

But it wasn't his choice, and I honestly didn't care what either of them thought and ended up forging my mother's signature on the application documents as hers was the only one that mattered. I found out later that they called her to confirm they have her permission, and she didn't deny it and gave the permission to continue with medical and psych evaluations, dates for bootcamp, and training.

I had already graduated high school around that time early and spent my time before bootcamp training my ass off.

Dean was the only person there to tap me out.

I didn't know who he was and what he wanted, I was just a new sailor and I wanted to get in a ship and sail away from my problems.

It was then I was taken to a...illegal off grid operation ran by the CIA; you know right after they blind folded me and drugged me.

I could still remember feeling of the chains...

July 2004

Bright lights.

So bright...

I tried to lift my hands up to rub my eyes, but I couldn't.

Instead, the sound of clinking metal filled my ears... chains.

I tried to move my legs, again the sound of metal, heavy metal.

My eyes shot open; my corneas blinded I was still sluggish...I felt...high?

I pulled on the chains, I had to get out.

This man, he could be a serial killer or some shit.

The amount of emotion I was feeling, rage, anger, fear, it was all overwhelming.

I pulled on the chains until my wrists were bleeding and my left ankle was dislocated.

Fuck being double jointed.

Just then a tall man, maybe a little over six foot walked through the electronic sliding doors in a crisp expensive looking suit, something I could never afford. Interesting a classy serial killer, was he going to eat my body too?

At least he was going to a silver fork and knife, I thought, still pulling on the chains.

"Rhylan Daines" He spoke drawing my given name out unnecessarily, he threw a manila folder on the table and pulled out the chair sitting right in the front of me.

The way he sat, the way he looked, something was off. This man wasn't a serial killer, well he could be, but not the normal ones you see on shows and movies. This guy was professional, I sat observing him, his watch was expensive it was a gold Rolex with diamonds around the face, well over twenty thousand dollars.

His haircut made his head look like a pineapple, it was stupid as shit, he was a marine... or maybe at one point he was. But why keep the haircut?

Semper Fi bitch.

I found myself bucking the chains straining and centimeters from his face that I could smell his coffee-stained breath, gross.

I couldn't help myself, the rage and anger, the pain I felt in my wrists and now my ankle from it snapping back in place as I stood. I want to hurt him. Kidnapping, drugs, physical restraint this guy must've been stupid.

"Where the fuck am I?" I spat in his face.

He didn't even flinch, which made me angrier.

"I'll tell you, but you have to calm down first, and sit down." He was calm, like he knew I couldn't and wouldn't hurt him.

"Calm down! —You drugged and kidnapped me, you son of a bitch! And you want me to be calm." I smiled, the crazy drugged sleepy smile. "Your funny" my voice was low.

"I will kill you."

I wanted to wrap the chain around his neck and watch the life fade from his eyes. I've never felt that before, the feeling of being in fight or flight and now that I was experiencing it was overwhelming.

He just smiled back, leaning closer to my face.

"I'll give you a chance to channel that anger, rage. You just have to listen."

I spat in his face leaning back in the chair, the pain in my ankle still at large.

"I'll give you that one, but if you do it again—" he pulled out a napkin from his suit pocket wiping his face.

"Talk"

"Well let me introduce myself first I'm-"

"I don't give two shits who you are, I want to know where I am and what the hell you want."

He just smiled, "I'm Dean Sawyer, General Dean Sawyer."

I rolled my eyes biting through my lip letting the metallic taste flood my mouth.

"Okay Dick, what do you want."

He looked off in the distance towards the mirrored window I now knew someone was on the other side of, then he opened the thick folder sitting in front of him pulling out...pictures...

"We've been watching you, perfect military standard testing scores, top two percent in athletic evaluation, section leader in basic training, high language skills, adaptability, and so much more."

I just starred blankly, while my emotions were on the highest drive I've ever felt in a longtime, with parents that thought you not to show any emotions you become good at hiding everything and learn to feel in secret if not at all.

I looked back at Dick and shrugged my shoulders. So? What's so special about me? I'm a nobody, or at lease I try to be.

Dick placed the pictures in front of me, there was pictures of me everywhere, training for bootcamp, walking home, driving, jogging, all the way up to today when I took my speech pledging my life to my country.

My jaw clinched so hard I'm surprised I didn't break a tooth.

"You were stalking me?"

"Well, I like the word observing. But stalking seems like an appropriate word to use, but don't worry it wasn't me."

Mr. Dick here sucks at reassuring people.

I crossed my arms. I'm getting tired of this bullshit, he's stalling.

"I work for the CIA, the counterint-"

"I know what the CIA is."

What does the CIA want with me? I'm a seventeen-year-old from Texas, newly indoctrinated Navy Sailor running away from life. Maybe he's bluffing, I observed his face and mental checklist of signs of someone lying.

Sweating ×

Wondering eyes ×

Stuttering ×

Fidgeting ×

Vagueness √

Over sharing ×

Crossing off all the signs of lying in my mind except one vagueness, while it could say something it could be explained if he was actually CIA.

"Well. We have a job for you, a special job. To put your talents at good use." He continued.

Talents?

"I need more details than that." I said, shaking my head.

"Right." He started, pulling more pictures from the folder... oh great does he have pictures of me showering or taking a shit. Man, this guy is a creep.

"Now the images I'm about to show you are highly classified. If you don't accept the offer, you are to never speak of what you saw or what happened her. Ever."

I shrugged, it's not like I have anyone to tell I don't have any friends.

I'm not even joking.

I nodded finally leaning closer to the table as he flipped over the pictures. The first picture that caught my eye was of a child no more than ten... she seemed to be middle eastern her hair was long and beautiful, but she was frail, and her body was bruised. She was crucified.

My eyes stung, my cousin Allie coming to my mind, how could someone do this?

The next picture was of some type of wear house, children chained to beds...mostly females. It was a child brothel...

Disgusting.

I scanned over the other pictures. Dirty politicians, news articles, bank statements, trafficking rings. The states weren't the only dirty places in the world.

Everywhere was guilty of something.

I pushed them off the table, I didn't even say anything. I was too angry. While Dick did kidnap me...and drug me I was too in my mind to say anything. The pain those children suffered, the people, women, civilians.

"It's time the government acts, but it has to be done privately. I believe you'd be the perfect first candidate."

Privately? Action? First Candidate...I took in a breath.

"I'm the head of a private project only a handful people know about. The goal is to train you to be the best there is, while your previous life will be wiped from everything, you have a chance to change the world." He continued.

Change the world, every word repeating in my head. I was drowning.

Am I really thinking about doing this? This is crazy.

"What would this entail?" I asked.

I'm hesitant to hear, killing people could I even do this? Am I strong enough to push myself like this?

The man intertwined his fingers, "missions, all over the world."

"What type of missions."

"Assassinations, framing, undercover work. A little of everything."

"Isn't that illegal?"

Dick took in a large breath. "Everything we'd be doing would be illegal, which is why this is an off the books CIA operation. Project Death Star."

I paused my entire body freezing, they wanted me to be the first soldier in an illegal CIA operation, me a seventeen-year-old.

I started to sweat slightly, remembering how growing up I was told I would never get anywhere, especially in the Navy.

"I joined the Navy to be in the Navy, to be a soldier—" I started, trying to convince myself to not want to take the offer.

"And you will be, just think of it as team six...just on crack," Dick shrugged his shoulders.

Team six was the elitist navy seal group in the navy known by the public, while I always thought they were interesting it was never my mission to become a seal. Realistically, when I first joined my plan was to be a submarine technician though I didn't find out women weren't allowed on submarines until I was already at bootcamp.

To say I was angry was an understatement.

When my drill sergeant asked me what I wanted to do in the Navy because no ship was going to want a little girl on it, I told him it was submarines.

He laughed, actually laughed.

But you see, I've always had a bit of an anger issue problem. I was a shitty child and even a shitter teenager, constantly in fights and arguments with everyone, teachers, other students, and my parents.

I didn't start picking up the pieces of my life until a Navy recruiter showed up at my school to present and encourage everyone to at least talk to a recruiter to see if they were qualified. It was then I felt I found a reason to push myself to be better and even a reason to live, and an opportunity to leave my shitty home life.

So, when the drill sergeant laughed at the fact I wanted to work on submarines, it broke all control I built over the last few years of training myself to be the best I can.

Before he knew it, he was swept off the ground and I had his head between my legs screaming for him to tap out, four other male recruits had to tear me off of him. His nose was bloody, and he was laughing, the fact that he found it funny only made me angrier.

"You're gonna get somewhere with that Daines." He spoke.

After my 10-mile punishment, He pushed me, he became my mentor and taught me leadership, teamwork, everything he knew. I looked up to him, he became the true father I never had.

Drill Sergeant Cade Mitchel.

Wait—"You're gonna get somewhere with that Daines."

Going to get somewhere with that?

I smiled. "Cade. He was a plant, you sent someone to observe me." Proud of myself, I uncrossed my arms and sat back in the uncomfortable metal chair.

Damn my ass was numb.

"Wow, I'm impressed. Cade was a plant, but just because he was doesn't make him any less deserving of your trust. He was very impressed for your skills, not to mention being able to catch him off guard." Dick pulled out a document from the folder, a stapled packet of paper with chicken scratch covered in it and placed it in front of me.

The top had my name—

Rhylan Daines.

General information, my birthday, testing scores, highschool GPA, my attributes, and personal notes. There were words that stood out to me the most it made my eyes burn, I've never been called or referenced as any of these things in my life.

Determination, courage, great leadership, untrusting—

The list continued, there was a few that were questionable to be considered 'assets' but otherwise the notes of what I confided with him showed every thought if what went through his head when I told him things that I wanted to keep private.

Things that made me the way I am...

A part of me was angry about it, he was faking everything. Someone I trusted as a mentor, as an adoptive father, who put my pins on me in my inauguration just a few hours ago, wasn't there for me on his own will, but as a will for another.

It was all fake.

But when I really thought about it, I was comforted by the fact he didn't see the negative things I saw about myself. While he found my trust issues a great asset, I found them annoying and it was a daily struggle to speak to people, strangers, anyone that didn't give me a reason to offer them my trust. While he found my stubbornness and loyalty strikingly intriguing, I never knew I was considered stubborn. I never had anyone tell me.

Loyalty on the other hand was something I always wanted in a friend, therefore it only made since I was able to reciprocate.

I was interesting seeing another person's point a view of me, as I always figured I wasn't enough of what they call 'friend material' and it was hard enough to figure out why people didn't see me worthy enough of their friendship.

But don't even talk about romantic relationships with me. They're a joke.

"He thought very highly of you, he's gone for now, but you'll see him a few days."

"Can I—" I started, picking up the packet.

"You can have it; we have another copy."

I nodded glad I didn't have to ask to keep it or give him a reason to.

Looking back at him, I started to finally calm even though I was still chained to the desk I finally felt I was where I was supposed to be in life.

"What type of training?" I asked, folding the packet into a neat square, and slipping it in my back pocket.

"We'd be sending you to complete BUD's, which is normal for navy seals, the only difference is you won't be able to leave until you complete, and there will be an extra few lessons."

Okay. This is a...start. I wouldn't say a good one, but it's a start.

Dick continued, "It will also be an accelerated course. Normally BUD's is about a year long, for you it'd be six or so months. Depending on where you are in the course and how you're progressing."

"I have a buddy that's going to be training you privately, you'll be the only one there."

Wait, normally seals are teams, but then again this isn't a normal situation. None of it is.

"I'm the only one?"

He nodded, reaching in his pocket pulling out a key standing from his chair and walked over to me. At first, he offered me the key, but I just gave him my hands to uncuff, "You'll be the first for now, once you're ready we plan to let you choose the next recruits, though the full team will only be four more."

He offered me the key again to uncuff my ankles from the chair.

"Do you accept this offer?" He questioned, his eyes following me ask I stood.

I was about 5'9 which was short compared to his 6'3 frame, but I guess guys that are abnormally tall stand out in the crowd. Which made him, unable to blend in—or he's just too old, the man looks like he'd been sitting in a bath for two years straight all wrinkly like that, stress truly does age people.

I shrugged, "Do I really have much of a choice now. You practically told me everything." I looked over at the mirrored window, giving those behind the glass a playful salute.

"But I'm seventeen remember, not an adult yet." I walked up to the mirror, I looked like shit, and I was starving.

"Not legal remember." He joked.

That was a lame joke. This guy needs lessons.

Not that I could do any better.

"When do I leave?" Change the world remember, rather start now then later.

"In a week."

Well, this is going to be the longest next six months of my life.

December 2015 (Present Day)

"Hey, Rhylan time to get up." I felt someone nudge my shoulder and immediately all my instances were at full drive, and I found myself swiftly grabbing the unknown object; a hand, from touching me, soon I was standing with the man in the suit in my grasp his arm wrapped under and around his back and my knee in between his spine.

I blinked and let go suddenly. What is going on with the me... I shook my head again.

"Don't fucking do that." I yelled. This is why I don't like people touching me, ever, I don't care if the plane is on fire, or you were stroking out there was very few people in the world who could touch me and one of them wasn't this random man and his duped gold crested suit.

"Look I'm sorry, you fell asleep, and you looked like you needed it. Damn man that hurt." He rubbed his shoulder circling his arm socket. "Next time you do that again. I can't promise you'd still have your life." I spoke looking for my carry on.

The plain had landed in Houston in some small private plane hangar, it was December, yet it was still hot outside, and humid as always from what I could tell from the wet concrete outside. Growing up here, I hated it, I hated the heat the bipolar weather, the people, the crime, anything, and everything.

While I still do, this is where my family is. I don't have anywhere else to go, or anyone else to go to. For where my mind and mental state is now, I don't think I'd be able to take care of myself without my family a few minutes away from me.

I couldn't find my bag anywhere.

"I already but your stuff in the car. Let's go I'm supposed to take you home."

I shook my head, "No, I can find a ride, uber something." I said, I don't want to be trapped in a car with this man I didn't know for forty-five minutes on the way to my house—the only true place I feel safe.

"Yeah right, this a private plane hanger from the United States Government, yeah right. Uber." He laughed, as much as I wanted to insist, but he was right. It was dangerous for anyone to know about this place, though looking around the place looked familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

Oh well. I just wanted to get home.

The car drive was long, to this day the highways of Houston still give me the worst new driver anxiety even though I had been driving for a good fourteen years give or take with the change in career the prospect of people driving me around everywhere still made me nervous. I had been gone so long filming mad max in South Africa and Australia the difference between their and my hometown often made me miss the pure humid heat Houston had to offer.

My hand tightened around my phone.

I should probably message my mother; I shook my head. Nothing good will come with that.

When the car finally rolled up to a stop in front of my house the filling of peace, I've been thriving for ages flooded through me.

Just before I open the door, the man in the stupid suit spoke, "Hey, wait"

"What?" The word sound harsher than I intended.

"Dean says you owe him one. He'll be contacting you soon."

Fuck.

I opened the door anyway, "Tell Dick to shove it."

When I took my leave, that's what it was a leave. While technically I am still active duty but because the operation wasn't on the books legally, I was able to bend the rules, take large gaps in absences from duty, do things my way.

I had to figure out a way to get away, and it was ironic I was able to get an acting call for that. They can't put me undercover if the entire world has seen my face. Can they?

I pressed my finger on my scanner disarming the security alarm for a moment to open the door. The sound of nails on the hard wood floor and huge blob of fur running to me. "Hey Lucky lue, hey buddy." I dropped my bags and got on my knees while I was smothered in dirty breath kisses.

Luther. I was stranded in the forest of Bulgaria for a little over a month, I couldn't leave the forest because people were going after me. But somehow, a tiny little black and white fur ball puppy came after me, chose me. I still don't understand how he was able to find me, but his loyalty and the fact he made me not alone.

After I was rescued, I insisted to bring the puppy with me back home to the states, which Dean wasn't very happy about. My entire training meant for me not to care or love anything, I think that's the moment he realized I was straying away from him, and the hell he put me through.

I put Luther through all sorts of military dog training, he was some type of German shepherd and Keeshond mix which made sense from the terrorist organization I was following from Germany to Bulgaria. Luther was loyal to me but found it hard to be loyal to anyone else, he loved running and working. Even if it was hunting bad guys.

After many months of training, Luther was certified in tracking, explosive detection, patrol, search and rescue, and attack. Some used more often than others, I still made sure he remembered what to do, so we did simulation rescue missions often he made sure to find his favorite duck toy every time.

I ran my hands though his soft fur whispering I love yous and I missed you. My home manager Sydney must've taken him to the groomers before I came home which made sense for his big blow out.

I walked up to the counter seeing a paper with a note on it, from Sydney.

"Dean messaged me to let me know you are on your way home. I made food for you for the week it's in the fridge, will be back on Sunday to make more food for the week. I slipped your mail under your office door."

-Sydney

I smiled, Sydney knew if she didn't make me food for the week, I'd only eat MRE's and Dairy Queen's chicken tender box. She has always been very good at her job, even consulting with a nutritionist so I could get the right amount of protein and vegetables to keep me going sense I work out so much.

I was lucky to find her, and I still agree I should give her a raise, but she won't let me and says I pay her too much as it is.

She's in her late forties, both of her children are in college, and she's divorced. I constantly tell her she can take some time off and go on a vacation, but she likes her comfort zone and prefers to spend her time reading my books. She's been like that for a while.

I made sure to give Lue a treat seeing he was a good boy while I was gone for so long, I think next time I'm going to take him with me even though I can't tell you how safe a trained military dog would be in a situation he wasn't familiar with.

I unloaded my bags putting the dirty clothes I had in the washer and putting the clean ones back in my closet. Opening my office door, the lights of the room immediately turned on and my triple monitor supercomputer powered set up woke,

"Good morning Mrs. Daines, its nice to see you again." The computer spoke.

I took off my leather jacket putting it on the coat rack next to the door, "Arthur, It's Rhylan, we've been over this."

Maybe coding him to always be polite was a bad idea.

"Yes ma'am. How was you flight home? I could not find you on any commercial airflights."

"Dean sent a private plane for me." I said, I slipped my shoes off lining them next to my other sets of black combat boots, I swear I have a problem with boots. "Ah General Dean Sawyer, would you like me to send him a passive aggressive thank you note, as always?"

I laughed, "No, It's okay. He will be contacting me soon. Though send Nelia a message, tell her I got home safely and thank you, while your are at it send her a delivery of her favorite flowers. I don't remember what they are, do you?" I sat in the chair in front of the computer.

Arthur took a moment to respond, "Nelia Wainright's favorite flower is Gardenia, an order has been placed, an a thank you message has been sent."

"That's good. Okay, give me a run down of all the things important since we last spoke." I said cracking my knuckles.

"It has been five months, twenty-six days, and twelve hours since our last update. Would you like the detailed version?"

I pulled at my desk drawer revealing my handgun case and cleaning kit, oh how I have missed you. The feeling of protection I have coded in my own program is sated when I carry, nowadays guns are too easy to come by not just in the states but in countries civilians believe it is impossible to obtain a weapon.

"Go for it' I said, taking apart the gun and begin cleaning. Gun's can never be too clean, and this one, this one went all around the world with me has taken the life of so many extremists all over the world I would probably cry if the inner barrel were to rust.

Arthur paused

"In the past five months one thousand two hundred eighty-nine dollars and ten cents has been taken out of your personal account to pay for subscriptions. Is this number, correct?"

Holy fuck, I need to stop pressing buttons.

"I'm sure it is Arthur keep going."

"Ms. Sydney has used her card to make purchases, the total was three hundred forty-six dollars and thirty-nine cents. Should I pay it off?"

I was surprised the costs were so little, I always tell her to use to for anything she would like.

"What were the purchase?"

Arthur commanded the computer to bring up the bank statement, he also opened a folder containing all the receipt Sydney scanned in, the rate the intelligence was flipping through the scans made me dizzy.

"It seems many of them are cleaning and pet care products. The most recent purchases conclude of steak, bell peppers, jalapeños, twelve-ounce chicken breast –"

"Yeah, I get it, it's food." I spoke, digging caked gun powder out of the crevasse of the handle, I must've been half asleep when I cleaned this originally.

I continued picking at the gun powder, I couldn't even tell you why it was there this gun didn't use much gunpowder. I looked up at the triple monitor screens, Arthurs program was running facial recognition on my outdoor cameras, every delivery man, every pet, neighbor, everything. I looked back down at the handgun in my hand putting the parts back together, I knew Arthur wouldn't find anything.

You may call me paranoid, and I might be. The problem is I have enemies in the world, enemies that would do anything and everything to hurt me and the people I love, not only do I need a safe space to feel at ease, but I need to know that the people close to me do too.

My house is a fortress and my future home build will be even more high tech.

Arthur is coded to scan constantly throughout the day and night, and alert me for any suspicious activity in my area or around the house in general, therefore I knew the results would turn up negative and there was nothing to worry about.

"There seems to be no suspicious activity as been recorded within the last five months."

I nodded; my ego swelled; I was right. I win at this coding came now don't I?

"Anything else?" I questioned, watching Arthur close his previous computer windows, and bring up the data from the bitcoin rig I set up a while back. Mostly because I was bored, but now it's been a steady source of income.

"Roughly thirteen point five seven bitcoin has been successfully mined since your last withdrawal. The total worth translated is two hundred twenty-five thousand one hundred seventy United State dollar."

I choked. That's a lot of money, I didn't expect it to be that much.

I did the math in my head, "Take eighteen percent and put it into my savings account—" More math, "Take the rest and donate it to my usual charities."

It's money I don't need, there's a point where money doesn't help and only becomes more of a burden with taxes. Not to mention, bad things happen to people with a lot of money all the time.

"Would you like to make the donations anonymous?" Arthur asked.

I thought about it, would I? Is it selfish to want to put my name on it, to get praise from people I didn't know? But my mind kept trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal, I wouldn't see the praise, It's not like I had social media of any kind.

"Make it anonymous."

I'm not going to change the way I do things because I made my name public, I don't want to change myself.

"The transaction has been complete. Do you need my assistance any further?"

"No, just monitor me while I'm in Texas. I want to know anything and everything."

The computer dinged signaling the program has accepted my order and the ceiling lights dimmed an array of colorful desk lights turned on displaying a plethora of colors from the rainbow. "What game are you interested in playing?"

I put my gun case and cleaning kit back in the drawer, "Surprise me"

I put my headset as I watch the logo for the game the coded system choose to appear, World of Warcraft.

Oh home have I missed you.

[awhitehead17]

Memory Matters

Chapter 2 / Previous Chapter

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

If you were to ask Bruce what one of the worst things are in life, he would respond with one word: waiting.

He hated waiting. Especially when it involved waiting for one of his children to wake up from some kind injury that's ended up with them being unconscious for who knows how long and the under lying question of ‘would they even wake up?’

It’s the worst kind of dread that Bruce has probably ever experienced. Performing surgery on one of his kids was awful in itself but with the idea that they still may never recover was just something he couldn’t describe and most certainly something he didn’t want to think about.

He lets out a deep breath and tries to move away from those morbid thoughts. As easy as it was to, thinking negatively wouldn’t help the situation he’s found himself in now. His third youngest son lies on the medical bed next to him. Tim was asleep and would be for another hour or so.

J’onn had left just over 20 minutes ago after confirming that Tim’s mind had indeed been tampered with so he would lose his memories. The Martian had reported that he’s done what he could to help Tim get his memories back, however there was still a chance he wouldn’t wake up with them.

That’s what Bruce was waiting for. He was waiting for Tim to wake up to see if his son’s memory was restored or if he would remain amnesic. Even though Tim was physically unharmed, this was just as bad as when he was waiting for one of them to wake up from a life-threatening injury. That dread, fear, anger and sadness just building up inside of him waiting to be released depending on the outcome.

From where he was sat in a chair by Tim’s bad, Bruce glances at his other sons in the cave. Dick was at the computer while Jason was down on the training mats beating the crap out of a dummy. He’s aware of Damian up in the Manor currently with Alfred working on some dinner for all of them. Cass was with Barbra at the Clock Tower.

When Tim had been taken from them months ago, they were all distraught. They didn’t know who took him or why. Then eventually they worked it out, found his location and found the dreadful news of Tim being amnesic and not remembering them. Further planning took place in order to get Tim free and get him to the cave where J’onn was willing to offer his assistance.

It’s been a very stressful couple of months. And now Bruce was just waiting for his son to wake up so they could work on the steps of what’ll happen depending on how Tim wakes up.

45 minutes later Tim takes his first deep breath. Bruce was up on his feet in an instant and leaning over the boy to get a good look at his face. Tim’s features soon start scrunching up as his breathing deepens and that's when his eyes flutter open.

As much as Bruce wants to rush Tim, make sure he’s okay and ask him what he remembers he doesn’t want to terrify the boy if it’s all gone wrong. He needs to be careful until they can determine Tim’s mind state.

As Tim was waking up, Bruce was mildly aware of Jason and Dick’s presence behind him. Both brothers eagerly waiting for the younger to wake up.

Tim groans and reaches a hand up to his head as he blinks up at Bruce. A frown appears on his face as he finally opens his eyes up all the way. Bruce holds his breath, anticipating Tim’s first words.

“Ugh. Why does it feel like I got hit by a bus then trampled on by Bane?”

Unable to help himself Bruce lets out a relived sigh at his son’s choice of words. Behind him both of his older son’s chuckle.

“Good morning to you to sunshine.” Jason smirks.

On the bed Tim continues to frown, he lifts his head up trying to find the man, “Jay?” That’s when he spots Bruce hovering worriedly over him. “Bruce?”

“Hey kiddo,” Bruce says gently, “How are you feeling?” He’ll give Tim a moment to get his head together before going through an examination process.

Tim groans and starts trying to sit up. Bruce bends down, hooks his hands underneath Tim’s arms and pulls him up into a sitting position. Next to him, Dick moves and starts raising the bed up so it was in an incline position, once it was high enough Bruce leans Tim back against it.

His son blinks at him and looks around, as if taking everything in. Bruce sits down on the bed by Tim’s legs and stares at his son. “Tim.” Two blue eyes turn to look at him. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Tim takes a deep breath and lets it out as he slumps against the bed. Reaching up, Tim presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. “God I don’t even know. It’s all so fuzzy.” He removes one hand to peer at Bruce, “Was I really with Ra’s that entire time?”

Before Bruce could respond, Dick steps up beside him. “We didn’t know where you were Timmy. We were looking everywhere for you and once we did find you we did everything we could to get you back home. However Ra’s wiped your memories in that time you were with him, made you question who we were, he tried to twist the story and make us the bad guys.”

Tim lets his arms slump down on the mattress. “Yeah. I think I remember that actually. I remember feeling lost and confused, not knowing who I was or where I came from. Ra’s told me a lot of stuff but anything personal he didn’t share.” Tim looks up at them questioningly “Why did he do it? Why did he take my memories? That’s a whole new level, even for him.”

Bruce wishes he knew the answer to that. He really wishes he could provide Tim the answers he obviously wants, but he couldn’t. Bruce hadn’t yet worked out why Ra’s took Tim, why he wiped his son’s mind and tried to twist the way he saw the world. He doesn’t understand the man’s obsession with his third son, it was all kinds of disturbing but unfortunately there wasn’t a lot he could do about it.

A part of him wanted to lock Tim away, keep him safe and away from any prying eyes but he knows he couldn’t do that. Not that Tim would let him anyway. His son could handle himself and has proven that fact a hundred times over by now.

“I don’t know.” He says truthfully. “I wish I did Tim, I do, but we haven’t worked it out yet. By the looks of it J’onn’s been able to restore your memories, however I would still like to go through the exanimation process with you.”

Tim swallows and nods his head in understanding. “Yeah that’s fine. I’ve been expecting it.”

Jason appears the other side of the bed. He looks down at Tim before looking at Bruce with a raised eyebrow. “You gonna give baby bird here a moment to himself first old man? The kids just had his head screwed by an alien, give him a chance to rest.”

Bruce frowns at his second eldest but it was Tim who verbally protests. “Hey! I’m fine, I can handle Bruce’s examination. I feel fine, okay, just a little tired but I’m good.”

Jason looks away from Bruce and down at his brother, a disbelieving look crossing his features. The two stare at one another for a long moment, having some sort of silent stare down between them until Jason blinks. He raises a hand and smacks Tim across the back of the head before pointing a finger at him. “Don’t you ever do that to us again, you hear me? You snot nosed brat, don’t ever go off the radar like that again.”

They have another stare off but this time there seemed to be less tension and it ends with Jason smiling. He reaches out to ruffle Tim’s hair. “I gotta go. Once Bats is done with ya give me a call and we’ll chat.”

Without any other words Jason turns and exits the medical bay. He disappears out of sight and moments later they all could hear the reeve of an engine start up and as the motorbike exits the cave.

Next to him Dick chuckles. “You all gave us a scare Timbo. We were worried.”

Tim looks up at him, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ll tell Ra’s the next time he kidnaps me to leave you a note.”

Dick snorts and shakes his head. He lightly shoves Tim to the side on the bed. “Brat. Now you’re awake I’ll go tell Alfred and bring you down something. That sound good?”

“That sounds great.” Tim hums thoughtfully. “I’ve missed Alfred’s cooking.”

“I’m sure you have. I’ll be back in a bit.” As Dick leaves he pins Bruce with a look and Bruce can easily translate it into ‘don’t fuck this up.’ It’s a look he’s gotten a few times over the last couple years.

When Dick leaves, it’s just him and Tim in the medical bay. Tim watches Dick go until he couldn’t before looking down at his hands which were now in his lap. He was twiddling his fingers and wouldn’t look at Bruce.

“I’m sorry that I got taken and that all of this happened. I don’t know why-”

Bruce doesn’t hear the rest of what Tim was saying because he’s too busy going over what had just been said. Tim was sorry. Why was he sorry? He sounded so apologetic for it too, like he really believed getting kidnapped and having his mind wiped was his fault.

It was clear that he really needed to have certain conversations with Tim on the subject but those will have to happen on another day. For now he wanted to make sure his son was relatively okay and to clear something up.

Tim was still talking by the time he gets out of his thoughts, so Bruce reaches forwards and cups Tim’s head to hold him steady. Tim’s current sentence trails off and he’s blinking at Bruce with a frown. “Bruce?”

Bruce leans in close to make sure he has Tim’s full attention. “Tim I need you to listen to me okay. This was not your fault. Please don’t think that. At all. Because it wasn’t.”

“But Bruce…”

“No.” Bruce cuts off Tim’s protest. “Did you want to be kidnapped?” Tim blinks but shakes his head. “Did you choose to go with Ra’s? Or choose to have your mind wiped?”

His son shakes his head again and whispers out a quiet “no”.

Moving a hand off Tim’s face, he strokes his hair back. “It wasn’t your fault. If anyone should apologize it should be me. I’m the one that let it happen, I’m the one that lost track of you. So Tim I’m sorry that you had to endure all of that. I wish we had found you sooner than we did.”

“That’s okay. You found me in the end and got me back here.” Tim gives him a small smile. “I’m sorry. I just can’t help but think it was my fault.”

Bruce strokes Tim’s cheek. “I know. We all feel like that sometimes, particularly when it’s something we couldn’t control. Are you okay other than that? Any headaches, dizziness, memory gaps?”

“No, like I said, I just feel tired I guess. I think everything that's happened is a little blurry like my feelings are a little jumbled but nothing that is a major concern.”

Bruce nods, happy to hear that. He still gives Tim a firm look however, “That’s good but I want to still do an examination with you. But you can have some rest first and then we can do it.”

Tim nods. “Yeah. Thanks Bruce.”

Bruce pats his head and stands up from the bed. He’ll give Tim some time to rest, have something to eat before making him do anything. For now he can wait around knowing that his son was aright and how his memory loss was just a temporary thing forced upon him.

Once he knows Tim is alright he can move onto working out Ra’s real motive for this particular stunt. He’s sure Tim will want in on the project too. It’s something that’ll take time to work out. However for now, he has his son back, his son who remembers who he is and who his family are. That’s enough to keep Bruce going for the time being.

[argentvive]

Chemical Weddings--from Sweet to Gruesome

The Chemical Wedding between Sulphur and Mercury, King Sol and Queen Luna, is an essential step in the alchemical process.  As Lyndy Abraham writes:

The philosopher’s stone cannot be generated until the lovers have died and their bodies putrefied in the mercurial waters. (p. 37)

Alchemical treatises have illustrated this idea in many different ways.  Here the lovers simply embrace while floating in the mercurial sea (Rosarium philosophorum).

As I’ve written before, I believe that this (and similar images) was the inspiration for Jon and Daenerys’ Chemical Wedding on the boat in Season 7.

Alternatively, the alchemical couple take a bath together, as in J. D. Mylius’ Philosophia reformata: 

I’m convinced this is the CW imagery that GRRM draws on in the scene where Brienne and Jaime share a bath at Harrenhal.  

These are pretty tame, non-violent versions of the Chemical Wedding.  Has any writer tried to write a CW with actual death and dismemberment?  

In this illustration from Aurora consurgens (early 1400s), the lovers have actually been beheaded, in line with dictates of physical alchemy.  As George Ripley put it in the Compound of Alchemy (1591):

Our medicine if we exalt right so

It shal be thereby nobilitate. [ennobled, transformed]

That must be done in matters two:

From time the parties be disponsate, [betrothed]

Which must be crucified and exanimate: [killed]

And then contumulate [entomb] both man and wife,

And after revived by the Spirit of Life.

So how do you “kill” both your Male and Female Principles without actually killing them?  In fairy tales it’s easy to have fake deaths--Sleeping Beauty and Snow White sleep for years until awoken by a kiss, for example.  But how do you do it in a story--or a play?

I’ve been reading Charles Nicholl, The Chemical Theatre (London, 1980), one of the earliest books to take up Frances Yates’ challenge of interpreting Elizabethan and Jacobean literature through alchemy.  Nicholl’s main focus is King Lear, but he also looks at a truly macabre and gruesome Chemical Wedding in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, Act IV, scene ii.  

The Female Principle is Imogen; the Male Principle is her husband Leonatus Posthumus.  Imogen’s evil stepbrother is Cloten.  One of the most convoluted Chemical Weddings in English literature unfolds this way--  

Imogen, who is disguised as a man, has fled the court and taken refuge in a cave.  Conveniently, she swallows a potion that puts her into a death-like sleep. Cloten has been pursuing her and has put on her husband’s clothes in an attempt to fool her and “ravish her.” Sadly for Cloten, he gets into an argument with Guiderius and has his head chopped off.  Thinking Imogen dead, Guiderius and his brother lay her out next to the beheaded Cloten and conduct a funeral.  After everyone is gone, Imogen awakes.  In this modern dress production, the actor playing Cloten has a red bag over his head to indicate his decapitated state.  

Imogen takes Cloten to be her husband Posthumus because of his clothes. Nicholl explains:

After a speech of anguish and appeal, the distraught princess delves her hands in the gaping neck of Cloten-Posthumus, smears her face with his blood “that we the horrider may seeme to those who chance to finde us,” and falls fainting on top of him....

Ingeniously, without either of them dying, Imogen and Posthumus are presented “dead” onstage. (p. 232)

The parallel with the image from Aurora consurgens above is pretty clear.  Imogen keeps her head, of course.

Here’s Imogen’s speech from the scene:

Imogen. [Awaking] ... [Seeing the body of CLOTEN] These flowers are like the pleasures of the world; This bloody man, the care on't. I hope I dream;  For so I thought I was a cave-keeper, And cook to honest creatures: but 'tis not so; 'Twas but a bolt of nothing, shot at nothing, Which the brain makes of fumes: our very eyes Are sometimes like our judgments, blind. Good faith,  I tremble stiff with fear: but if there be Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity As a wren's eye, fear'd gods, a part of it! The dream's here still: even when I wake, it is Without me, as within me; not imagined, felt.  A headless man! The garments of Posthumus! I know the shape of's leg: this is his hand; His foot Mercurial; his Martial thigh; The brawns of Hercules: but his Jovial face Murder in heaven?—How!—'Tis gone. Pisanio,  All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks, And mine to boot, be darted on thee! Thou, Conspired with that irregulous devil, Cloten, Hast here cut off my lord. To write and read Be henceforth treacherous! Damn'd Pisanio  Hath with his forged letters,—damn'd Pisanio— From this most bravest vessel of the world Struck the main-top! O Posthumus! alas, Where is thy head? where's that? Ay me! where's that?  Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart, And left this head on. How should this be? Pisanio? 'Tis he and Cloten: malice and lucre in them Have laid this woe here. O, 'tis pregnant, pregnant! The drug he gave me, which he said was precious  And cordial to me, have I not found it Murderous to the senses? That confirms it home: This is Pisanio's deed, and Cloten's: O! Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood, That we the horrider may seem to those  Which chance to find us: O, my lord, my lord! [Falls on the body

It seems I may need to be more creative in looking for Chemical Weddings going forward.  

[tashaleway]

Karkat Vantas and a Fucking Cherry-Red Stone: Chapter One: The Worst Introduction.

Summary: Karkat Vantas is going to Hogwarts where he will be judged because of something, he doesn’t even know about. How will he react, when he finds out that everybody around him lied? Will his friends stand with him through this, or will they abandon him? No game.

Karkat Vantas was no ordinary 10 year old boy, which was something you could tell already by looking at him. His hair was black and ruffled, which made it look something similar to a bird’s nest. Already here, we have some unnaturalness; the hair was not only black, but in such a shade that it was somewhat near the colour of a black hole. His skin was so pale that you doubted that he had ever stepped outside in his entire life. Dark circles hang under his eyes, pointing to the fact that the boy clearly didn’t sleep well, and this had been going on for quite some time. His clothes covered as much skin as possible, the dark attire making a shocking contrast to the white skin. The kid’s height was nothing to be proud of, since he was some good inches below average. His mouth grimaced in scowl, often showing off teeth like a cornered animal would, but his most shocking feature was most possible his eyes. Crimson red, they were. Like poisoned apples, they stared at you with anger, hate and mistrust, always seeking for an escape route. From a kid, who was showing so many negative feelings and always ready to give a person so much fright, one would think that the Lord at least had graced the kid with a gentle voice or vocabulary, but that was not the case. No, his voice was scratchy, like sandpaper and his words were harsh and insulting, aiming to hurt. Words were after all the only weapon the small boy could use in front of non-magical people. Muggles was the wizarding word for these. Just pointing out the fact that this boy was no near physical strong. Yes, Karkat Vantas was a wizard himself, not yet under education, but soon he would attend Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the only magical school in Britain. Karkat’s older brother, Kankri, was already about to finish his second year and in a few weeks, he would be home, just in time to celebrate Karkat’s 11th birthday with their father. When you saw the two brothers beside each other, you would not be able to tell that they were brothers, not even close relatives. Kankri had brown hair and soft, brown eyes. High cheekbones, a small face, thin lips and a slender figure. Average of high and a friendly nature and person, always making sure that everybody else was in a good mood. Even though that all his hard work was wasted, when they grew irritated of his trigger warnings. That was the sons, but what about the father, you ask? Well, if you expect some kind of man, who looks like a mix between the two kids, or with some of their features, you would be wrong. A man with dark hair, auburn eyes and pale skin, perhaps? Heh, the truth couldn’t have been further away. Their father was a monster. No, trust me, I am telling the truth! He is a monster; a two meter tall, white creature, who looks like some weird lobster with crab-alike legs. He could talk English, but only if he needed to, or else he would just screech or making weird clicking noises. No surprise that his sons are the only ones, who truly understand that language. Everybody else, who knew of the creature’s existence, had a vague idea of what the different sounds meant. Now, you may have guessed that this creature could not possible be the boys’ real father, and you are indeed correct. Their parents died almost ten years ago, under the last war against the Dark Lord, Jack Noir, and when the Aurors (wizarding policemen, who hunts down dark wizards, witches and other criminals, in case, you are an unknowing muggle) arrived with a scared three year old and a one year old baby and was told that their parents had just died, the creature hereafter took them in and raised them as his own, it was after all, what beasts like him were known for. The creature was called a Lusus, which is an almost unknown race, due to their rareness and shy personality. Not many of them are left, because muggles and wizards both hunted them down for their white skin, shell and blood that was (and still is) worth a lot of money. There had never been much information on these. They didn’t look alike anything else, but thing the magical people knew about them, was that they since the time of their beginning had taken care of orphaned younglings, humans and animals alike. Despite their frightening looks, they were a kind race. ~naknaknak~ The young soon-to-be wizard was waiting by the window of the local library for the other boys to grow tired of the hunt and return home. Karkat didn’t go to school, since it would cause more problems than it would solve with the father he had. Too many questions would be asked about the father no one saw. Therefore it would be much better for the brothers to be homeschooled instead. They learned all the basic muggle knowledge by different muggleborns from the Ministry of Magic, who were in fact not too happy to help the orphans, as some of the pureblooded saw it unnecessary and a scandal to the magical world. When it was decided that the two had finally learned enough from the muggle world, they were introduced to wizard customs and culture. It wouldn’t do them any good, if they `entered Hogwarts as ignorant mud- muggleborns, ehm´, as a snooty half-blood once said. As he was not a pureblood, he wasn’t in any rights or means to even dare whisper the insult. If he had been pureblood, no one would even dare to tell him off. But back to the story; Karkat had wandered around in the city after his lessons with Mr. Droog (a weird, strict man with too many war-alike stories from his time in school), with nothing to do since Kankri was still at Hogwarts and would first return in a little month’s time and nothing interesting on his schedule. He had no idea where he was going, lost in his thoughts about the coming year, where he would finally attend Hogwarts, when he walked headfirst into the chest of one of the older boys from the town. Simon Scratch, son of Doc Scratch himself, who was the principal of the town’s school. To make a long story short, Simon and his gang had bullied, hunted and occasionally beaten the younger boy for years. Being as young as he was, he could never do anything obvious. The thing was that he as often as he could, retort to magic as a solution. Not anything too harmful of course, but a little wind that would help him run faster, make him jump longer or push the other boys away, had never truly harmed anyone, had it? He never told his family about these confrontations and control of magic. See, young Karkat wasn’t that stupid. He fully well knew that the amount of control of his magic, he showed wasn’t normal. Yes sometimes a burst of accidental magic would help you out of a situation or grant a wish, so to say, but not in this aspect, no. So there for, he kept it a secret. Not only from his family, but also the magical society. Even from the bullies, who knew that the boy was freaky lucky all the time. A freak was what he was. Just a freak, which needed to be shown his place in the hierarchy.  After all, it wouldn’t do him any good, letting anyone know of this, would it? His family might try to understand, but would perhaps be frightened, which most likely would be the reaction from the two others. The society might want to exanimate him, which was something he would avoid for all costs. And for the bullies? They would be scared shitless if they knew just half the things Karkat did. No, it would be better this way. And after all, it was better being beaten for something, they didn’t understand, and able to somewhat defend himself with this power, than being beaten for something they did understand, and perhaps learned how to fight against. Obviously this “short” story became rather long. Back to the facts; when these bullies hunted Karkat, he liked to hide in the library. Ms. Dodd, the librarian, who was an older lady with thick glasses and her nose always buried in a book, but always knowing, when somebody broke the rules, had taken a liking to the red-eyed boy, who no matter his foul language, was quiet and nice around the books and her. When the gang was nowhere in sight, Karkat left the library with the promise that he would return and say a proper goodbye to the older lady, before he left for his boarding school (they had told everybody, who would ask that they went to a boarding school in Scotland, because they couldn’t very well tell them that they went to a magical castle with unicorns, moving pictures, broom riding and potion making, now could they? No matter what, it would be a very unwise decision.) “Hey freakazoid!” Oh shit. Simon and his gang had apparently only hid from view and waited for the boy to come out. Not showing anything that could be read as fear, Karkat turned around to meet the bullies. “What?” he asked in the most disrespectful tone he could muster. Not the most intelligent move, but the kid was only ten, soon eleven, so give him some slack. “I just want to chat,” the boy said and smirked, just to confirm Karkat’s theory about that Simon wouldn’t only talk. After this it went downhill. Karkat had some of the fault, annoying the boy senseless, Simon insulting Karkat’s dead parents, Karkat not going on a rage fit, but instead calling the other boy a retarded toilet, which Simon didn’t react kindly upon. Wonder why? He stepped closer to Karkat, his shoulders raised and fists clenched, but Karkat didn’t have his eyes on the threatening body language. His eyes were instead fixed on a black leather looking rope-thingy, slowly emerging from Simon’s breast pocket. It almost looked like a- “A snake!” Karkat gasped, not realizing that the word had come out like a hiss instead of English. The said snake turned its little black head towards him. Karkat hadn’t realized that the other boys hadn’t heard the words, the same way he and the snake had. They heard it as a threat and just to make things clear, they didn’t like threats from kids, who were younger than themselves. And a few seconds later, the first fist connected with Karkat’s jaw. When he tumbled to the ground in shock, he could taste blood and he slowly and carefully rubbed the sore spot. It was in that moment, Simon commanded the other boys to hold Karkat down, while he kicked him, yelled at him, hit him, insulted him some more and kicked him again, just to be sure. Karkat tried not to scream in pain by each blow, because that would only be the thing Simon wanted, but when the other boy kicked him for the last time, a long scream escaped from his throat, while something that felt like a lot of hot energy, that before was captured inside him, broke free in the same scream. Karkat didn’t hear the other boys’ scream or whining. Actually, he couldn’t hear a thing. Neither could he move and when he tried to speak, his mouth wouldn’t even open. The only thing, he could was just to lay there and breathe and search the sky above him for help. He tried not to panic, but not even that, could he muster. A little by little, the sounds came back and the edging fear that loomed over him, disappeared bit by bit together with the panic. He could hear the moaning and shocked sobs from the other boys, but he ignored it and only focused on making his body move. First, he could only wriggle his fingers and toes, but soon he could control face, feet and hands, and lastly legs, arms and torso. Inch by inch, he stood up and looked over the place. Simon and his gangs, lying on the ground about ten feet from him, caught his eyes, but he could see nothing wrong with them, no broken bones or even strong bruising and they soon realized themselves the same thing. Without hesitating, they stood up quickly, speared Karkat a fearful and shame filled glance, before they turned around and ran as fast as their long legs could carry them, leaving the still sobbing Simon behind them. Great friends, huh? Something slithered around his angle and Karkat quickly jumped away in panic and shook his foot in a desperate attempt to get the thing away. He didn’t recognize the little snake, which was only two feet long, before it lay on the ground again and gave an angry hiss. But to Karkat it wasn’t only a hiss. It was actually words. “Stupid, filthy human!” the words did actually come from the snake. If Karkat wasn’t panicking, he would without doubt find this incredible fascinating, but as I just said; he was panicking, and the only thing he could think was; `the snake just spoke! The fucking snake just spoke!´ `But how was that possible? Snakes can’t talk, can they?´ “Did you just… talk?” he asked weary. Talking animals didn’t sound like a normal thing, even in the wizarding world. “Of course I did! Or did you think it was your shoe?” Great. Karkat was mental, or maybe the snake could talk and had a sarcastic sense of humor. None of those options sounded good to him. ~naknaknak~ As Karkat talked to the little black snake, it turned out that the snake was female and named Sylvia by her mother, but now had a horrible male name, given by her even worse owner (Karkat had of course responded with giving his own name). When that case was closed, she told him that it was not her, who spoke English, but in fact Karkat, who talked snake language, which was apparently called Parseltongue. As a speaker of this language, Karkat was a Parselmouth. It was a lot of information to take in one bite, but when the boy got his thoughts under control, he asked in a somewhat shaky voice, why the human snake speakers, had a name, when Sylvia had never met one herself before now. So if they were so rare, why did they need a name? He was then told that she had once met a snake, who was magical, in a dark forest some years ago, before she was captured and sold to that horrid kid. The snake told her that his great grandfather or something like that had met a kid about twenty years ago, who spoke the language and had told the snake, what he was. The kid was apparently some descendent to an old, pureblooded family, who was known for speaking the snake language, but exactly, who they were, the snake had no idea. The kid never came back. After Karkat had been told this, he secretly hoped that the kid had been his father, an uncle, or maybe a grandfather, but the wish crushed to the ground, when he reminded himself, that both his parents was muggles and so was theirs parents, so there was no hope for either non-magical, being able to speak a language only wizards and witches was able to, if they had the rare gift. As for an uncle, he had never heard of any. In fact, he remembered a time, when he asked, if Kankri and he had any other relatives that their parents, either dead or alive, but the hope of any biological family left was burned to ashes by Crabdad’s answer. His voice was grave, when he responded with a single `no´. Knowing that he had somewhat distressed his adoptive father, Karkat promised himself that he would never ask that question again. In the meantime, Simon had come to his senses, realizing that nothing serious had happened to him. Simon was furious. How dared that kid to punch him (that was, what he thought happened, because such thing as magic surely didn’t exist!) and just think that he would get away with it? The freak did not even respect him! After the freak had punched him, he didn’t even run away, no he just sat there in the grass in front of Razor, mocking him! When the older boy crept closer, not even noticing his friends had ran the other way, he realized that the freak was pretending that he could speak with his black snake! Such a lunatic! In only a second, Simon was just behind the freak, Razor lifted its head and hissed threateningly, the young boy turned around in alarm, but before he could do anything else, Simon grabbed him around the neck and lifted the freak up in the air, making him gasp for air. He trashed violently, as soon he came over the first shock. He kicked, hit, scratched and tried to bite, but Simon stopped the fighting with a blow to the boy’s head with his other hand that made his vision blur and taste blood again. The kid now only scratched at the hand to release its grab. “I’m warning you, kid. Don’ ever, don’ ever go near my snake again. You hear me?!” the last words were spitted out and some of the liquid hit Karkat in his face. If he wasn’t about to be strangled, Karkat would have scrunched up his face in disgust.   Thinking that the freak got the point, Simon released him and Karkat fell to the ground, greedily sucking air in to fill his burning lungs. Karkat managed to nod in confirmation, Simon scooped up his pet snake, but when he returned his eyes to the kid, Karkat stood up. Not even realizing, what was going on, Simon received a kick in the gut for all his hard work. Ending in the exact same position as Karkat was in only a minute ago; Simon fell to his knees and gasped for breath. “Not funny, when it’s yourself, is it? Listen fuckass, and you better listen closely, understand? Don’t ever do such a trick again, got it?! Remember just fifteen minutes ago, when you and your little brainless goons flew through the air? What makes you think, I can’t do it again? Don’t ever cross my path again. I’m tired of all your bullshit. Do you. Understand?” Simon nodded furiously, remembering the hit all too well and realized that the kid really was a freak. His dad had been right all along! Before leaving, Karkat nodded to the snake in the boy’s grasp. “Until next time, Miss Sylvia. Please enjoy your time, and remember that you are more than welcome to bite your little human pet from me,” a hissing laughter of agreement was the response. ~naknaknak~ Karkat hadn’t meant to blurt out his secret, that he wasn’t as normal as people believed, but it was too late now. He just hoped that the other boy wouldn’t be a problem in the future.

[eris0330]

Affair of the heart

A/N: I was reading this short story from @_Trashmooooo_ (Don’t know her tumblr) on Wattpad. It inspired me to write this One shot.  EVERYTHING IS FICTIONAL, WHICH MEANS, WHATEVER IT SAYS ABOUT GREECE MYTHOLOGY, IS NOWHERE NEAR 100% HISTORICALLY CORRECT.

Summary: You’re Aphrodite, the demigod of romance and attraction. Besides the theories going around, no one knew your exact position, besides a female version of cupid. There was not much of a difference, besides you had to prove that love exists in the world, for the people who didn’t. Jeon Jungkook, was your current target, will you be able to make him fall in love with you?

Pairing: JungkookxReader

Genre: Romance, Angst

AU: College

Word count: 8k

“If you don’t decide on a major and a level C subject, before second semester… We must transfer you to a military camp.”

A darkened voice, glasses occupying most of his face. A black tie and white shirt, he looked like any dreamy teacher. His tanned skin, swooning every student as he walks down the white coloured walls. Namjoon was scolding one of his ‘favourited’ students, Jeon Jungkook.

“Military camp? What did I do? Light the college on fire??” The youngster answered, making the elder rub his temples. Even for the sarcastic answer, Namjoon knew about Jungkook long before other teachers. Basically, Jungkook lived in Namjoon’s flat for 10 years, because his parents left to America. It left the younger boy heartbroken and rebellious, getting pushed into a foster home.

Namjoon was the first person, to look at Jungkook without pity. Every person, looked at him like he was a troublemaker, making the kid believe, he was nothing more than trash to this world. When the silver-haired man stretched his hand out, Jungkook was sceptical. Why would this person help him? When everything he did, was only bringing him trouble and later, others.

“I know you do a lot of stupid stunts, but I believe you can do more. You’re just lost, let me guide you, to get what you’re capable of.” The wisest words, that left an impression on Jungkook. Getting a spare room in Namjoon’s flat, as the elder helped him finish high school and enrol in college. Even for Namjoon’s effort, the kid drifted away, getting caught up in living his life, than studying. It was a normal behaviour, if it wasn’t for the fact, that he barely had any friends.

“You haven’t done shit this first semester. I might be harsh, but as a teacher and your parental guardian, you need to get a scholarship and get a job.” The elder responded, tapping with his pen against the report, stating Jungkook’s latest grades. “You managed… to fail in every class, besides sport and art?” He continued speaking, making the kid bite the insides of his cheeks.

“I’m only 20, soon my life will be over. I COULD DIE TOMORROW.” The boy defended himself, as a heavy sigh escaped Namjoon. A light chuckle lighted the office room, while the elder threw the pen away.

“I have a high chance of getting into an accident every 5 minutes, but I still managed to finish college. Not everything is about girls, Jungkook. If this keeps up, you can get expelled.” Jungkook groaned of the thought, that he wasn’t able to do what he wanted. Well, in reality he could, but it was the consequences that kept him away. The only thing he had been doing the first semester, was to hang out with Jimin and Yoonji, besides they studied more. The kid had no intention of finishing his college degree, at first, he thought it was a good idea to pick ‘languages’, because it looked cool when Namjoon spoke. Yet, even now, he couldn’t speak or write it properly, losing his interest.

“What girls? The only girl I know, is Yoonji and she is way too cocky for me. I don’t even understand how Jimin-hyung likes her…” The boy trailed off, leaving the elder in shock.

“I’m only saying this once, Jungkook. You have 2 months of summer holidays, but you need to go to summer classes” The teacher sighed, as he stood up from his chair.

“But-“

“There is no ‘but’ here. You failed your classes and that’s why you need to go to summer classes and ATTEND. EVERY. ONE. OF. THEM. By the end of the summer, I’m hoping you found a major, or military camp. It’s up to you, what you want with your life.” The elder interrupted making the boy bite into his bottom lip, getting his lecture that he tried to avoid. Namjoon ruffled the kid’s hair, before he walked out of the room. His jacket swooped onto his shoulder, leaving him in a cool gaze. “Oh and by the way, classes start tomorrow. Don’t get too distracted of the bad girls” The elder chuckled, making the boy blush under his fringe.

“I’M NOT GOING TO DATE ANY GIRL, I DON’T BELIEVE IN LOVE HYUNG. I CAN PROVE YOU WRONG” The boy screamed, as the teacher was gone. Even though Jungkook was known to be a lazy sack of potatoes, he was competitive. His impression in sports was legendary, while they had ‘National sports day’. Other college managers saw the strength and determination in the boy, as they saw him wrestle against their own students. They offered him a sport legacy, if he decided to live his life through that. It was a year ago, and to this day, Jungkook still doesn’t know what to do with his life.

It was a message sent to above, when Jungkook screamed ‘I don’t believe in love’. His powerful voice reached the sky, where you had come back from your recent task. Tears falling from the crook of your eyes, as you sniffled the pain away.

“It happened again?” A voice asking from afar, making you shake your head. It was to no one’s surprise, that you came back with a broken heart. As the god of love, you had learned to patch your wounds of shattered pieces of a heart, to collect yourself. Aphrodite was the name you were given, but looking down upon the human world and walking along them, you fancied a more modern name, Y/N.

“I’m Aphrodite. I know how powerful love can be and thankfully, I know how my magic works.” You answered him. Even for the Greece mythology, the humans only knew about your representation of affection, attraction and sex. What they didn’t know, was that you had a task, for every person that didn’t know about love. The ones, who were afraid of attachment. The sky and your ears, who you were going to pick, that was going to fall in love, with YOU. Showing them what romance really is.

Unfortunately, as the task is given. You are sent down in the human world, with limited powers. There was a specific limit of time, how long you could stay, but it varied from days, to months. It was different, every time. Your limited powers, diluted when you came too close with the humans. Every touch, was dangerous. Coming back with tears in your eyes, was a regular thing. Means you fell in love, with a human.

It was forbidden, to be in a relationship with human beings. Making your powers disappear, sending you back to heaven. Instead of dwelling on the heart break, you always forgot the task ever happened. Only the humans that passed your way, knew your name. Leaving an imprint in their memories, as you forgot about them. Only their name, lingered in your mind. It was a cruel way, but the task of love, was all that mattered to you. What happened afterwards, wasn’t your business.

“They will forget me as usual, like I will forget them” You finished, looking down upon the brunette boy that met up with two humans. There was no proof of that the people you interacted with, would forget your existence. Your side kick, Taehyung always assured to be in need, when you came back. His little angel wings, as a piece of cloth covered his whole body. Arrows attached to his back and a bow, ready to shoot. He was your only friend, that had the same task, just less painful. Whenever you felt sad, he filled you with encouragement and soothing words.

“Who’s this?” He questioned, skipping over to your side. His gaze was pointed towards three human beings, sitting in a flat. Drinking beer, as they seemed to laugh at something.

“Jeon Jungkook.” You answered, looking down as you exanimated his features. Another name that felt nostalgic, but you will never remember the story of. The boy had a significant light smile, reminding you of a bunny. A laughter contagious enough, to make you chuckle. An edgy style, but modern with ripped skinny jeans and a plain white shirt. To you, he was handsome, but so was everyone. This boy took your breath away, without even knowing.

“When are you going?” Taehyung asked curiously, looking upon your face. Your tears had disappeared and he noticed, the sadness in your eyes, was replaced with light. Looking back at your friend, he looked concerned. Even though, it was a regular thing to leave with a light weighted heart, it always came back shattered. Taehyung hated to see it, but he knew, there was nothing he could prevent you from going. When someone was struggling with love, you always put them first, letting them get the taste of the sweet salvation of romance.

“Tomorrow.” You answered bluntly, walking away from the sight. Taehyung’s eyes followed your sleek naked back and hips swaying from side to side, while your hair teased with candy. Clutching to his chest, he wished you good luck, even though it pained him.

“Jeon Jungkook?”

“Here…” The boy muttered into the empty classroom, holding of 13 students. A daring glare to his newest summer teacher Kim Seokjin, he hoped for the holidays to pass like lightning. Staring out into the window, seated in the back like any anime protagonist.

“Right, I think that was all. Let’s begin” The teacher spoke clearly, turning his back to the black board. With sleek hand movements, he wrote his name and subject for the next couple of days.

It was early in the morning, when Jungkook stepped into the room, seeing his fate of getting a scholarship fading away. When Namjoon spoke about Summer classes, he internally thought he was joking. Cursing under his breath, he knew there was no one other to blame, than himself. His failed grades and lack socialisation, was proof. Everything seemed hopeless, when the question of ‘what do you want to do with your life’ flashed in his face. Jungkook just wanted to avoid adulthood and stay, a big sized child. It was only a black hole, in his future.

“JEON JUNGKOOK!” A voice so booming it made the students snap out of their minds, to see the fire red faced teacher. Pieces of chalk surrounded Jungkook, showing the attempts Seokjin tried to get the kid’s attention. As bad as a thrower he is, neither of them succeeded to get his gaze. It was until, his voice broke through the room, tickling Jungkook’s eardrums, snapping his head around. An unimpressive look in his eyes, when Seokjin pointed to the black board.

“We’re going to do a project in History and everyone has found a partner… Since you didn’t pay attention, you must work on this project alone. It’s a 2 months’ project, so I’m hoping you will provide me something extraordinary.” The teacher finished, making the kid furrow his brows. Jungkook wasn’t surprised of the punishment, but rather offended, that Seokjin doesn’t think he can find something ‘extraordinary’. History wasn’t a thing that poked onto his creativity, resulting in that he will most likely slack this summer off as well.

A soft knock on the door, made the students turn around. Seokjin personally opened the door himself, getting ready to scold the newer student. A tiny but breath taking figure walked past the entrance, bowing down in front of your newest teacher.

“I’m sorry I’m late, but I couldn’t find the classroom” You excused, flashing him your brightest smile. Seokjin softened seeing the pearls shining, as he let you walk past. The student’s eyes were pointed at your flawless skin and long chocolate brown hair, with tiny waves. As Aphrodite, it was one of the things, that were magical. One look and everyone, would fall into your attraction.

“You must be new… I don’t see your name here.” The teacher broke out, scanning the class list. His glasses falling down on the tip of his nose, uncertain if it was a mistake. You chuckled of the sight and your angelic voice, made the boys around fly.

“I’m Y/N.” You didn’t know why you fancied this name, but your first time in the human world. There was this 10-year-old boy, that thought you looked like an ‘Y/N’. You don’t remember what he looked like, but you remember the word, like clear glass. Seokjin seemed convinced, tapping onto the paper. With fast movements, he scribbled your name upon the list of names. With a quick scan at the classroom, the students gave Seokjin a wink or a silent hand wave. They all wanted to sit beside you, just because they have never seen anyone prettier.

“In the back, that student doesn’t have a partner. You can join him, doing this History project, that is due in 2 months” The teacher flashed you a smile, holding back a hand kiss. He had an odd habit of doing it to Namjoon, since they were ‘good’ friends back in the day. Nodding to his request, you thought your plan went smoothly compared to, it all got handed.

With light steps, your hair flailed to the side while your hips swayed between the tables. Every student turned their heads, while you approached your target. Your bag put against the table leg, as you sat down on the opposite side. All you had to, was make him look into your eyes. A splash of magic and he would be wrapped around your finger, like a voodoo doll.

“Hello, I’m Y/N.” You sweetly greeted, giving a light bow before sitting on the chair. The boy in front of you, didn’t turn his head, with his gaze pointed towards the front garden.

“Jungkook.” He bluntly answered, not sparing you a sight. Your eyebrows furrowed of his behaviour. You didn’t imagine him being this rude, with his good looks. The students around eavesdropped you and you swore, you heard someone whisper they would hit him for acting tough. Shaking off the comment, you tried again.

“How old are you?” You asked, finally getting his attention. His brown orbs pointed directly into your own, feeling invisible strings wrapping your arms together. His eyebrow raised, as if you were stupid. His gaze, was different than you thought. Your magic didn’t work, it was like he didn’t see you. Even for the slightest eye contact, his facial expressions never changed. Your heart started beating, as his good looks got you swooned.

“20, you?” He spoke, finally giving you something to work with. Thinking of a plan, since your first didn’t work, you flashed him a smile. “21.” Your sweetest voice got to play, but all he did was smile plainly. He didn’t give two shits, if you were 34. His attitude got on your nerves, but you couldn’t get out of character, despite how much of an ass he acted.

“So, any subjects you’d like to try?” You questioned again, feeling your muscles tense. A shrug from the boy, was the only answer you got. His wording was limited, and so was his behaviour. Biting on the inside of your cheek, all you needed was an answer. Why was everything so complicated with this kid?

“Where do you li-“

Your question got cut off, as the school bell rang. It was already lunch break and Jungkook didn’t seem to want to lounge around, when there was food waiting. In a fast movement, he was out of your sight. Every student cursed under their breath, as you tried to keep calm. This kid is going to learn, the hard way.

Walking down the crowded hallway, your eyes were searching for the boy. He wasn’t anywhere near the cafeteria, so where could he be? Unsure of the school ground, you walked further as to where your feet decided. Your next class were dismissed, having you to wait an hour before another class started. The hallway was empty, while your steps were the only sound. The place seemed familiar, it tugged on your heart as you walked towards the west wing of the building. People had classes and the ones who saw you through the windows, almost broke their neck in attempt of a gaze. As the interior of the hallways got limited, you approached a room. The sound of a beautiful voice booming from the inside, making you turn the knob. It was like heaven helped you on the way. Jungkook were seated in the windowsill, looking out at the trees while he sang. A lullaby that were famous around kids, you remember this song when Taehyung helped you sleep. It was clean, soothing and to perfection. He made you stand in awe, absorbing the sound and his looks. Frozen for a while, the sound tickled your ears.

“What are you doing here?”

A question pulling you out of your gaze, as you saw Jungkook with wide eyes. Chuckling, you walked over to sit on a chair beside him. His eyes following your movements, as his muscles relaxed from being exposed.

“You have a beautiful voice, I didn’t know you could sing” You commented, making him blush slightly. Your effect, was taking actions. Or were they?

“No one knows.” He spoke back, his eyes pointed towards a couple sitting on a bench. Following his sight, you smiled at the scene of love taking place.

“Do you know them?” You asked, making him turn to you. His defensive eyebrows were relaxed and so was his posture, against the window glass. It was mesmerising, seeing his body in a pose, besides ignoring you. A light chuckle escaped his lips, making you smile. It was the sound, you loved hearing when you saw him between the clouds.

“They are my best friends. They started dating a year ago, and still inseparable. Yoonji and Jimin. I sometimes feel like the third wheel, but I don’t mind.” He commented, as his eyes never left yours. He was examining you, without being direct. The elevator gaze, seeing your skirt were the right length and thigh highs embracing your legs nicely. The white buttoned shirt, making him gulp of the sight when your collarbones were exposed.

“Do you like Yoonji?” You questioned curiously, wondering of his wording. It wasn’t that he seemed sad, but he looked… alone.

“OH hell no. She’s not my type, too rough.” He chuckled, making you get a perplexed look. His bunny like teeth shined upon you, having his laughter take over your hearing. Curious, you felt like you knew him. He felt familiar, when his defence walls were broken.

“Then what is your type?” You asked, as his smile disappeared. Gaze pointed at the couple, he shrugged his shoulders. You were certain, there was a connection, but lost it. Silence, filling the room. Feeling your heart beat rise, without a reason to.

“I don’t have a type. Love isn’t my thing.” He finally broke the silence, making you tilt your head. His fingers fiddling with a key, making it shine in your face as it turned. You didn’t know what it was, but his words struck. There was no doubt, in his sentence. Even for the hopeless people, there would always be a slight of hope in their voice. But Jungkook, was proven to be opposite. Was he hurt by someone?

“How come?” You asked without thinking. He was caught off guard, as his expression darkened. Unsure if you invaded his private space, you cleared your throat. “Greece Mythology.” You excused, pushing the project upon him. A hopeless sigh escaped him, as you felt hurt of his reaction.

“History project?” He wondered out loud, as he jumped off the windowsill. Impressed by his smooth landing, you heard him chuckle. “Fine. Greece Mythology it is then. Lock up when you’re done, kay?” He continued to speak as he threw a pair of keys, in your way. With your reflexes, you caught them, having his eyebrows raised.

“Where are you going??” You questioned in shock, as he walked towards the exit. His long body turned around as he walked backwards, a cheeky smile thrown your way. “Skipping class, my friends are waiting” He spoke with a light voice, disappearing out of the opening.

You were left with a pair of golden keys, possibly to the music room. Uncertain where to go and what to do, you felt the room give you peace in your heart. Speaking to Jungkook was hard, when your heart either throbbed or ran like horses. The impression didn’t help, when he left you alone. Thinking of a strategy, you hoped that he was going to attend tomorrow, or this might be a failed mission.

Sitting at the desk in the back, tapping your pen against your notebook, waiting for the boy to appear. It had already been two hours since the classes started and there was no sign, of Jungkook. Until the classroom’s door got barged open and a tall man walked inside, giving Seokjin a light smile before Jungkook were pulled along. Your eyes widened at the sight, of a teacher holding strongly to the kid. Not able to read their interaction, Namjoon left Jungkook in the class as he got pushed towards you. His broad shoulders were now seated in front of you, as a sigh escaped him.

“You okay? He seemed kind of rough” A question that flew by, making the kid chuckle in response. “I’m fine, it’s just Namjoon, you should see his bedroom FILLED WITH KAKAOTALK RYAN” He snickered, making you smile of his personality.

“Namjoon?” Throwing another question his way, as you got carried away by his playful aura. “Yeah, he kind of lets me live in his apartment. I ‘forgot’ to turn on the alarm clock, resulting me to over sleep” He scoffed, rubbing the back of his neck. His attitude was different today, there was no ignoring or turnaround of the subject.

“So, about the ‘Greece Mythology’ thing you spoke about yesterday… why exactly that? Isn’t it weird doing a project about something that doesn’t exist?? I mean, there is a reason it’s called ‘Mythology’” He commented, making you furrow your brows. Close to throw a fit, you knew why he didn’t believe in it. Who would? There was no proof that the Greece demigods could walk along humans, when they were sent a mission. Putting yourself into his brain, he didn’t seem like the type that like ‘facts’, that he wasn’t going to be in use later, or seemed fun. Grubbing over the subject, your eyes lighted when you got an idea.

“You see, it is a ‘myth’. But that’s the fun of it? First of all, we don’t need to prove anything. Second of all, we are allowed to leave this classroom, to search in the museum and other places.” You answered, making him nod along. It was like music to his ears, when you spoke. Without making it obvious, you were breath taking, just like everyone thought.

“Other places?” Shaking his gaze off you, as he got back to reality. “Yes, ‘other places’. The Seoul Library is not far from here and there is a café, computers and what not. A museum is a good start, since they have an exhibition about Greece this summer. Instead of ‘Greece mythology’ we could just call it ‘Greece Demigods? Only explaining about the important gods like Hercules.” You explained, making him smile of the subject. He looked like a real kid and you couldn’t help, but let it flutter your heart of his childish smile.

“Let’s do it. Which Demigods and when do we start?” He questioned excitedly, as you could hear his feet tap against the floor. Finally getting his attention, you blessed for your smart way of working. There wasn’t a need of magical powers, when all you had to do, is talk like any other person.

“Tell Seokjin of the subject and we will plan what gods to present. Tomorrow we can go to the museum” You suggested, as he pulled a thumb up. His tongue licking his bottom lip before a lip bite appeared, making your stomach twist. He was too charming, to be around with for more than 20 minutes, you were practically doomed without lunch breaks in between. His body left the chair, as he skipped towards the teacher in a happy manner. The students followed his path, as they whispered along their partner. Your attention, was towards the young man, seeing his smile brighten as he spoke to Seokjin. The two of you, used the day on planning what gods were famous enough, to be on your project poster. Jungkook had a passion for cool and strong people, like Hercules. Whenever he was excited, his voice got pitched and a smile adorable enough to kill. You lost count, of how many times you had to shake your head into reality.

“Zeus… Apollo…Posedion…Hades and Aphrodite…” Jungkook muttered walking along the statues, displayed in the hall. You and Jungkook left days later to go to the museum at noon, so you could have him get up in time. It wasn’t a problem getting permission from Seokjin, as he was just happy that Jungkook actually did some studying.

“Choose one, to start with.” You suggested, walking alongside him. His side profile was so nice to look at, as he was thinking of what to start with. A beanie keeping his morning hair from escaping, almost unbearable to not take it off him. The two of you had gotten closer, to the point where it wasn’t awkward sitting in silence. A cup of coffee was also enjoyed together, as you met his best friends. He wasn’t wrong, Yoonji was extremely forward. God forbid any person, to step on her shoes.

“Zeus!” He decided, with delight flowing in his voice. Taking your hand, he dashed towards the next room where the statue of the greatest, were shown. The white cracked figurine, with a pose in a chair. The white information board were directed in your face, as Jungkook started reading. His hand let go of yours, to take notes. Feeling slightly sad, you shrugged it off because it was just nice to see him work.

“He must have been great, powerful with lightning and all. Would he be considered a God, since he was in the highest rank?” He questioned, looking at you. Your gaze was pointed at the statue, as you absorbed his features. Zeus wasn’t always there, when you came home. The only time you heard from him, was the lightning he did against the sky. He was the ‘father’ that never came home, because he was working all the time.

“I don’t’ know, maybe? It’s something we need to consider. Every Greece demigod, were predicted to be Zeus’s children. Even though some of them were told, to be his lovers.” You answered, making Jungkook scrunch his nose. The thought of him ‘loving’ with his children, were gross in his mindset. “There are also other predictions, that demigods were made from stuff. Like objects?” You continued to wonder, unsure how you were born. The only thing you knew, was about yourself as present or the stories Taehyung told you. Jungkook nodded to your theory, adding it to his notebook. Finishing off with Zeus, you walked towards Aphrodite.

“I always imagined Aphrodite to be pink” He commented, looking at the woman displayed. Chuckling of his comment, you wondered why he would think such a thing.

“Why are you laughing? I’m dead serious!” He scoffed, making you laugh more. A smile danced on his lips, hearing your laughter get absorbed into his memory, a box of memories, he would treasure. Almost crying of laughter, you had to take a break to breath. “Why exactly pink?” You asked, still trying to hold back your muscles to tense.

“Because I have seen the Disney Movie ‘Hercules’! I bet every kid thought Aphrodite was Pink, didn’t you?” He questioned, making you shake your head. “I have never seen it” You answered, hearing a gasp from his side. Clutching to his chest, as if he was hurt.

“You have NEVER seen it?!” He finally spoke, getting over his shock of news. Another shake on your head, making him gasp louder. “I don’t care! We’re going to watch it together before our Presentation!” He bluntly spoke, making you blush of the sudden invitation. His gaze turned towards the figurine, your heart started beating harder as you recapped his words. Did he even know what he did to you?

“For real though… What do you think Aphrodite looks like? I can only think of the Disney version…” He confessed, looking back at you. Your eyes scanning the statue, you were uncertain to tell the truth, or go after his imagination. He bit his lip in anticipation, as you wondered over his question.

“A normal person, breath taking. She was representing attraction, affection and sex… of course she would be beautiful. Based off it’s a myth, I doubt she would have any abnormal skin colour, like pink. I just think, she is beautiful and easy to spot. She doesn’t have to do anything, to make others fall for her feet with her traits..” You trailed off, as Jungkook looked at you in awe. Imagining his vision of Aphrodite, all he could see, was you. The moment you stepped into the classroom, he almost stopped breathing. He had to turn around, to not let others see his flustered cheeks. As far as he knew, no one liked innocent good guys, so he tried out the bad boy attitude. When he realised his actions, he regretted not giving you anything else. Until you found him in the music room, as if it was fate, a second chance was given. Ever since he met you, his heart never stopped trying to break his ribcage.

“Does that sound too plain?” You questioned, ripping him out of his gaze. In defence, he shook his head in denial. If he tried to speak, his voice would crack. Nervous of you finding out, he suggested another statue with pointing in a direction.

The museum guests started to fill, crowding the halls on the way. Uncomfortable of the tight area, you felt a hand brush against yours. Fingers intertwining, you were pulled against the people. It was a tight grip, making you do the same. There was no reason to ask who it was, because the feeling of electricity flowing through your veins, told you. Jungkook was nervous of losing you in the crowd, taking the chance to take your hand. The feel of silk against his fingers, as his loud beating heart muffled his ears. The two of you escaped to see Posedion, still with a crowd surrounding. The whole day, Jungkook never let your hand go, even for when you walked home. It was like superglue were secretly placed in between, but neither of you complained, because the feel of electricity ran through your bodies. With heart beating in sync, and a blush mirroring.

Days turned to almost two months, of you and Jungkook staying by each other’s side. There was working with the project, but you got gradually closer by the days went. Surprised, you only used your powers upon others than him, when you were around Jimin and Yoonji. As Jungkook told you, Yoonji was a rough person against the people she cares for, unable to give precise signals. Using your powers, you softened her up with sweetness. Jimin seemed concerned of her odd behaviour, but there was no explanation of it. You were Aphrodite, you couldn’t let it get pass you.

“So, this Friday…” You heard Jungkook mutter. His hand was behind you, barely touching, but protecting you from any future danger. It was a thing he always did, whenever you sat close enough, his hand swayed around your waist or on the chair. It never stopped impressing you, as he tried to show off his manly side. There had been hundreds of occasions, you felt like attacking his lips, but it was too soon. You wanted him to take the first step, knowing that you had made him fall for you.

You don’t remember when it was, when everything started. After the Museum visit, the two of you were inseparable. Neither of you knew, but everything happened to fast. Jungkook didn’t know what it meant, to fall in love, but if he knew, he imagined it would be something like this.

“This Friday, I thought we could study in my place, prepare for the presentation on Monday? Namjoon is visiting Seokjin, so we can finally watch ‘Hercules’ without some old guy interrupting” He chuckled, trying to laugh his flustered cheeks away. You remembered the day, he ‘unintentionally’ invited to watch that movie. Nodding at his invitation, you saw his smile warm your heart. Jungkook was charming, more than amazing and with a beautiful voice. Whenever your classes were dismissed, Jungkook took you along into the music room. His voice booming the room, while you sat in the window to let it sooth you like a lullaby. The sun shining at your face, making him forget the lyrics.

“I would love to” You answered, feeling his arm approach your back. A pair of fingers softly placed on the curve of your waist, as you leaned into his chest. His cologne making you dizzy, as you closed your eyes. Words whispered into your ear, Jungkook could sense your hair shampoo. Another memory, treasured.

Taking in a deep breath, you knocked upon the door. The sound of rustling behind it, made you take a step back. Jungkook gave you an address you have never heard about before, so everything seemed faint when you walked down the street. The fear of guys trying to catch you, while the sun went down. Shivers ran down your spine, hearing footsteps walking up the stairs.

“Please hurry Jungkook…. Open the door…” You pleaded under your breath, when you suddenly heard the door lock. A familiar smile welcomed you, as a hand tugged your body inside. A small apartment, enough to fit two. Blue wallpaper and pictures of Jungkook were decorated, as well of Namjoon and his family. You scanned the cleaned apartment, as Jungkook waited for you to be comfortable. His heart beating against the light, unsure what you thought of the place. He used all day cleaning it, to make a good impression.

Walking further inside, you could see a door open to a room. Squinting your eyes, you noticed a bear sitting on a bed. Was this the Ryan thing, Jungkook mentioned?

“Want something to drink?” He questioned, making you turn towards him. Wondering of an answer, you placed your bag in the hallway. “Just water, thanks”

Jungkook’s hands were shaking, pouring the ice water into a glass. He wasn’t a mind reader, but at this point, he wished. This was the first time he took a girl home, besides Yoonji. There was no chance, of him wanting to fuck up. It was like a fancy date, it needed to be perfect. Handling you the cold glass, he noticed your lips touching it. The thought of your soft lips erupted his mind, wanting to touch them himself. It has been way too long, wanting to just kiss you, just once.

“Oh right, Hercules… The DVD player is in my room” He spoke, guiding you to his bedroom. A big bed was placed against the wall, as CD’s were placed neatly in a shelf. Drawings were filling his walls, with some added polaroids of unfamiliar people. The picture was so unclear, it was hard to see who they were. His body were kneeling in front of the TV, as you seated yourself in his bed. Scanning the room, you noticed how empty it looked. Nothing on the floor, a bed, shelf and a TV was the things you could see. It looked nothing like Jungkook, as you knew him.

“I imagined it would be a lot messier” You commented, making him turn around and chuckle. In fast movements, he was on the bed to sit beside you. “It’s normally messy, but I knew you were coming… so, I decided to clean…” He scoffed, making you feel flattered. He put a lot of effort, to just impress you.

The movie started with an opening. It was your first movie, besides the ones Taehyung described with his vision. Jungkook were nervous, but it didn’t stop him from putting an arm around him. You felt his shaking hands, so you decided to help him on the way. Leaning in against his chest, your head rested in the crook of his neck. You felt his heat beat against your hand and a relaxed sigh, while he stroked your arm with his fingertips. It was almost dreamy, being this close to him. The urge of going further, was tickling your mind. Butterflies flying in your stomach, making it unbearable to relax in his touch. Seeing yourself as a cartoon version on the screen, you chuckled of the sight. It was a weird way to portrait you, but you guessed it was a cartoon for kids.

“My parents left me when I was 10 years old…” He trailed off, making you look up at him. Shocked and confused of his confession, you remembered he never answered, why love wasn’t his thing.

“I didn’t understand it. They couldn’t take me with them to America, so I was put into foster care. I got into trouble with fighting in Busan, as a 13-year-old. I was confused, lost and left. I didn’t believe that someone, would care for something like me…” He spoke again, as his lips pursed into a thin line. Glistering tears formed in the corner of his eyes, as he was focused on the movie.

“Namjoon was the first person to help me back on track, but I failed him by doing what I’m good at, failing… I don’t want to fail anymore. Y/N… I want to be successful. But, I also want to do something I love… I’m disappointing him, like I did with my parents…” He finished, as a tear ran down his cheek. Biting onto his bottom lip, you felt his pain, when he confessed. It made you mirror his tears, knowing the feeling of a breaking heart.

“I never thought I would be loved again… There was this person, I don’t remember… The person told me to keep going and that’s when, I met Namjoon… This person, always appears when I’m at my lowest…The name is faint, but it’s lingering somewhere in my mind. It gave me a tickling feeling, like your name…” He added, as the tears was uncontrollable to stop. Your own tears were falling too, reaching a hand out to dry his away. The feel of his skin against your palm, he closed his eyes. It’s a story, that Jungkook was never able to tell others. His best friends, didn’t even know how he felt. Jungkook, was betrayed by the ones he cared for the deepest.

“You’re doing great, Jungkook. I can see in Namjoon’s eyes, that he’s proud of you. Believe in yourself” You spoke sweetly, as you felt the tears fall against your fingertips. The darkened aura filled the room, making you do something, you never thought you would do.

“I’m Aphrodite” You confessed, clutching onto his chest, unprepared of his reaction.

Jungkook’s eyes widened of your words, but his eyebrows were uncertain. Part of him, didn’t believe you and thought it was nothing more, than to cheer him up. But why, did he feel like it was real. The stories you told about Greece Mythology and how she looked. The day he saw you in the classroom, the same feeling erupted his stomach. ‘Beautiful and easy to spot. Breath taking’.

“How do I know? Do you have magical powers?” He asked, still processing your confession. Biting onto his inner cheek, he felt your shaking hand against his chest. Taking it into his own, you looked upon his face.

“I do, and it’s hard to know. I haven’t used them on you” You spoke gently, making him nod in response.

“Use them on me now” He dared, making you widen your eyes. He was asking you, to use them. Insecure, you debated if it would be a good idea or not. But your task, was to make him fall in love. Sighing at his request, you looked him into his eyes. Your remaining powers were flowing like radiation, against the boy’s body.

“Do you feel anything?” You questioned, shutting the radiation off. His eyes were dilated, but a light frown formed on his lips. Your mouth opened in shock, certain that you did it right. How were you going to prove, you were the Demigod of love? A chuckle escaped his lips, making you look into his eyes. His raspy voice, that echoed in your ears.

“Maybe they don’t work… because I have already fallen in love with you, Y/N…”

The movie was coming to an end, neither of you decided to move. His deep breaths and continuously strokes on your arm, was the thing that kept you from moving. Your fingers reached to touch his soft hair, feeling the strings against your palm like feathers. His smile that made you melt against him, as your fingers ran down against his jawline. Biting onto your lip, your index finger brushed against his bottom lip. The sound of hearts beating into one, his face got closer. Your noses brushing lightly against each other, before he turned his head.

It was a sensation, when his lips touched yours. Another hand cupping your cheek, keeping you in place. His cologne tickling your nostrils, as you felt his lips tug into a smile. They were soft, loving and daring. Things got slowly heated, as he hovered above you. The red tint crossing his cheekbones, while kisses were placed onto your jawline and down your neck. His hand stroking your thigh, making you release a gasp. After all this time, he needed you. He didn’t care if you were an angel or a demon, because he fell in love, like never before. Every stroke, kiss and words, were assured for you to feel. His buckled-up feelings, were now coming to play. The multiple confession of your name screamed out in the room, as sweat fell from his forehead. Two bodies, became one into the night. You lost count, of how many times you told, you loved him.

The weekend was close to never-ending, while you and Jungkook used the days inside. Two bodies under the same blanket, sharing each other’s feelings as the summer was coming to an end.

Today was the day, you were going to do a presentation, of the work you two had done the last two months. Smiling of your succeeded power point, you felt something tug on your heart. It was a sign, and you didn’t like it.

“Are you ready, Y/N?” You heard a question approaching your desk. A handsome boy, Jeon Jungkook were finishing his speech, as you fixed the presentation. Nodding in response, he placed a kiss onto your temple. The teacher called up your name and with fast movements, you were placed in front of the white board. Standing close, you felt his hand brush against yours. Your fingers lightly intertwined, you started speaking.

Everything ended in an applause, as Seokjin looked impressed. A high five were given to each other, while you got back to your seats. Jungkook’s smile never faded, happy for his achievement. The class came to an end, which meant you were getting your results soon. The more you waited, it felt like your heart started to burst. A familiar feeling, you almost forgot about, being with Jungkook.

“Just a little more…” You whispered, walking towards the desk with him by your side. The teacher took his glasses off, as he gave you the papers with results and judgement.

“A+?!?!?!” You heard Jungkook scream at the teacher, his excited voice made it squeaky. You smiled at his success, while he lifted your body up, to spin your around. His strong arms holding you into place, while his smile dazzled your eyes. You placed a kiss onto his lips, giving him his ‘gift’.

“Erhm… not on the school please… Go home you two, you did great.” You heard the teacher speak, giving you a smile on the way. Jungkook set you down, to pull you towards the exit. His hand that never left yours for a minute, you approached his apartment. His posture that shined confidence, made your heart ache and smile. This, was the thing Jungkook needed. Walking inside his apartment, you were met with silence. The chilly feel of an air conditioner, making Jungkook pull you into a hug. His hand stroking you lightly on your hair, as you felt your heart beat disappear. Cupping his cheek, you kissed him softly. It was long, sweet and painful.

“I have to leave, Jungkook…” You whispered, releasing your lips from his. A perplexed look was formed onto his face, as you started getting tears in your eyes. He would never understand.

“Why? To where?” He asked, an insecurity crashing on his vocals. His hands were firmly holding onto your shoulder, as he felt the vibrations of you shivering.

“Back… To heaven… I can’t stay…” You muttered, feeling the tears pool in your eyes. The feel of someone stabbing your back, was now turned to Jungkook. His eyes were widened, shocked and confused.

“Why can’t you stay..?” He asked again, making you bite onto your bottom lip. This was it, the thing you wanted to avoid, when doing your tasks.

“..I was here, to show you love… A Demigod can’t stay in the human world for a period of time…My task is done, I’m going to disappear soon..” You choked on your words, making him hold onto you tighter. Embracing you into his chest, feeling his warmth take over your cold-blooded body. You felt his chest breathe harshly, as he tried to hold back his tears.

“You will forget me… everyone forgets me… you will be fine…” You continued to speak, as the tears fell like a river. Jungkook’s shushed you, not wanting to hear more. He didn’t want to leave you, he wasn’t ready.

“I won’t forget you… I will never forget you Y/N…. I don’t care if you’re a Demigod… I LOVE you. I don’t want you to leave or forget you… I need you….” He fell over his words, as you pushed him away. Your blood shot eyes, were filled with water while you tugged him into one last kiss. It was painful, as you felt his tears against your skin. Your heart breaking, dusty light fell from your body. Jungkook’s eyes were widened in amazement, and fear. You were disappearing.

“No…No.. Y/N! Don’t!” He screamed, holding onto you. Your head leaning against his broad chest, as you closed your eyes to hear his heart beat. You felt warm, feeling his embrace. “I love you, Jungkook…”

“Aphrodite…?” A shivering voice echoing through the cold apartment, while his mind proceeded the scene. His uncontrollable sobs and sorrow, was erupting his mind. You were gone, leaving him in pain. Fisting his hands, he hit the nearest object. Wall, lamp and picture frames. Jungkook wrecked the apartment, ending on the couch. His puffy eyes and painful dried eyes, as his blooded knuckles were bruised.

“Y/N…please…Y/N?” He muttered and pleaded. An uncontrollable sorrow, unable to be exposed. His mind was getting erased, the feel of your hair against his skin. Your finger matching with his and the sound of your laughter, while your smile dazzled. Gone. Smashing his hand onto the table, he screamed out in pain.

“You wanted to make me feel loved and love others? But you leave me?! What is love?! If it’s this, I DON’T BELIEVE IN IT!…”

“It happened again?” A familiar voice crossing your eardrums. Blood shot eyes burning of the sight, as the tears stopped running. Taehyung approached you slowly, with light steps. His caring hand stroking your cheek, feeling the stained salt water. Even for a broken heart, you were thankful to have this cupid as your sidekick. Shaking your head, knowing the drill. You squeezed his hand, a silent ‘Thank you’. Closing your eyes, a sentence forgetting the hole in your chest. Looking down between the clouds, a handsome boy in distress crying out to not believe in love.

“When are you going?” The cupid asked, with eyebrows furrowed, knowing the task you are sent to do.

“Tomorrow.” You answered, feeling the weight disappearing from your shoulders. Taehyung nodded along your words, while an arrow shot through his heart, resulting in a pained face. Preparing for your next task, you left to piece yourself together. Leaving Taehyung to look at the familiar boy, alone.

“If just she knew, that she fell for the same boy, over and over again”

[itsleafourie]

My little Endgame.

There is a type of paradoxical creature inside of me.

One second I want to devote my entire life to studying the academics and subjects such as law. Then the next second, my mind wanders off to a destination such as art, literature, philosophy, history and all the shit in our reality that makes us basically question our entire existence. When people ask, “What is your ultimate dream in life?” It always comes down to me wanting to leave the same feeling of questioning and examination of our interpretations of reality, in the minds of our society behind. Basically, I would love to mind-fuck people. For me, the ultimate indication of a wealthy individual is education, intelligence, emotional growth and how great our ability is of interpreting others’ situations and circumstances are, and then implementing this new found wisdom into our everyday lives.

So basically, what I’m trying to say is, I deal with a shit ton of thinking each and every day. For example, asking someone of my age a simple question such as, “How are you feeling?” And then replying with the most simple and common answer of, well, pretty great. For me, it becomes a full on class discussion inside my mind. Every Lea Fourie that every existed starts to debate about different responses. They take things further like, “Why did they ask that? Is it because of my body language? Is body language a natural occurrence or did humans trick themselves into thinking that there is something to look in how a person is sitting? Does this suggest self-centeredness that we naturally assume people are continuously lying to our faces, thus we feel the need to search for a lie? Is the way I’m reacting to this body-language debate initiating anxiety? Is this reaction an indication of my childhood trauma of feeling isolated from my fellow peers? There must be some phycological explanation…” And the discussion never seems to stop.

Listen, I’m not a self-breed mess of anxiety and stress. In fact, I respond the same exact way that this average individual would respond. I just have an extra little hidden equation at the end of my answer. Something only I can see. There’s this constant conversation that I’m having with my consciousness. Some breaking-the-third-wall-of-my-personality shit. It doesn’t make me more fucked up than the rest of the world, it just makes me a little more entuned with my nature, emotions, and thought process.

Or maybe I’ll be one of those adults at the reunions who speaks frantically about the world ending in 13 hours because of some government based disease being bred on the Antarctica plate or some shit. You know, one of those individuals who spits some freaky truth about the capitalistic system messing up our society, environment and phycological selves, even though the original conversation was only about the prices being lifted at our school’s tuckshop. I take a mundane complaint like an expensive muffin to the next level. Hell, to the 87th level. Within a minute of that convo being born, I’ve got you questioning your entire contribution within this system and shaping you into a conspiracist against the world economy. Just like that, an average muffin goes from being, well, average to some universal weed infused mind-fuck potion that got you hating yourself and every person you’ve ever encountered. Within an instant, opinions and this magical train of thought that I experience, gets shared with another individual.

Shit, now that I think of it, maybe a life as a conspiracy-theory ambassador seems quite fitting for me.

Just a PSA, I’m kidding. Or am I? I could be making this entire interpretation of my brain up as we’re going along. Hell, I could be manipulating you into thinking I’m some profound individual who’s constantly philosophising about the meaning of life. You know, someone who just casually discovers what the meaning of the universe is while collecting my Ice Gelado at our local Vida E Caffe as a study break, with almond milk of course, being lactose intolerant. (Now that’s some next level capitalistic first world problem.) Got your train of thought speeding now, don’t I? Relax, I can confirm that I am, in fact, a truthful and over-analysing bitch (with a huge diary allergy problem.)

And discovering the meaning of the universe is more of a bedtime self-care activity.

I’d rather be some mentally-confused goose who’s constantly on a wild chase for some new profound intelligence than some fucktard that refuses to accept any possibility of an opinion or statistic or story or reality that might challenge his precious values and viewpoints of life. I say it’s against our nature to live such shallow and empty lives. Let us live lives with constant pain, disappointment, change, arguments and discoveries. Let us live lives full of experiences.

To come back to the original message of this discussion: I am a living paradox. It is because of these constant conversations inside of me that I am like this. It feels like the parliament of South Africa throwing around chairs and yelling out insignificant remarks up there. But somehow, it all works. Somehow, I’m sitting in the chair enjoy this wonderful scene of word violence going on. It amuses, frightens and excites me, all at the same time. Maybe the comparison to the parliament isn’t quite accurate, considering that my version is more a continuous friendly (but violent) banter about newer and more improved versions of opinions and ideas. It’s liberating, it’s empowering and it’s wonderful. Less than a negative parliament attacking each other and more like the legendary fight scene in Endgame. My friend, I am not a person who gets emotional about Marvel films, but that scene got me feeling some type of way. It’s this fight inside of my brain about better and newer ideologies that excites me, because that means growth and change is coming. This debate got me sitting on the edge of the seat, throwing my popcorn everywhere and admiring how these empowering women are fighting together for a common goal of a better future. Did Lea Fourie just compare the biggest blockbuster movie of 2019 to her own imaginative reality of self-growth? You sure right I did.

You see, if I wasn’t challenging myself by writing this piece, I would have never made this ground-breaking discovering of my own little Endgame. And, to be honest, I developed a little insecurity about my writing over the years. It started in grade 7, when I realized that a noticeably amount of 13-year-olds were getting a lot better marks for their essays about the Colourful Caterpillar than I was. It was because of this, that the fear of putting myself out there and improving my writing became something I avoided. Even though I loved reading and telling stories, it scared the living poop out of me to phantom my thought constellations  into physical words. I’d rather prefer them hanging up in the night sky, than ever physically exanimating and studying them. I acknowledged that they were there, but I just kept looking at the ground whenever they would come say hi. So here’s this one side of little Lea, anxious about writing stories trying to drown out to other Lea, who is in love with the idea of writing stories. What a bittersweet tragedy.

Because of this fear and weird paradox inside of me, I just decided to ignore all confrontation. I ignored everything that could possibly produce some type of outcome or conclusion surrounding my writing skills, because I was scared that it would threaten what I already know. I was so sure of my poor writing skills, that the idea of improving or discovering a further love for writing, scared me. The idea of challenging what I thought and how I thought others viewed my writing, really made me curl into a small anxious ball. It’s like believing that strawberry milkshakes are the best flavour, like, ever. But then you taste the chocolate flavour and you got yourself questioning your trust in your taste buds. Then shit gets even more wacko and you get introduced to the love of your life, coffee. You lived your entire childhood almost religiously knowing chocolate and strawberry milkshakes are the dominant drink, and now with this new founded caffeine addiction, your entire meaning of existence is falling apart. On top of that, you realize you’re fucking lactose intolerant. Thanks universe, now I’ve got a Romeo and Juliet vibe happening between me and my childhood crush, and I’ve got an addiction. (Sometimes, even a working stomach)

This paradox stretches to whenever I should focus on my school work or on my artistic elements. Should I care what others think or should I focus on what I think of myself? Do I like genuinely like the trend of Netflix and YouTube or am I forcing myself to enjoy this act of staring at a screen for some temporary distraction, just so that I can fit in with my peers? Do I actually enjoy Instagram or am I just using it because people deem it as a necessity? Is Nickelback actually a good band or does the only reason why I avoid listening to their music is because of that godforsaken vine. I mean, according to countless graphs (tehe), our generation is the most entuned with other’s opinions or stories. But does this mean that we should implement these elements onto our own personalities? Must we accept this as constructive feedback? Or should we see it as a negative factor, something that is destroying our self-assurances and negatively influential our daily choices? Got the train of thought working at full-speed again.

This paradox-mess is the fuel behind the fire that sparks these weird ass debates inside my head. And I love it. This paradox enfuses different interests and opinions to form inside of me. This paradox is confirmation that no matter how hard I try, I am always going to be on the search for change or for something new. I think, the reason why I’m so hesitant to embrace this paradoxical mess is because our modern society despise indifferences and the feeling of the unknown. We are all programmed to think that we are equally special, equally constructed, equally wired and just equal in every single way possible. But, it’s honestly just a façade to ensure economic and capitalistic success, if you ask me. Equality does not mean that everyone in our society has the exact same contributes and attributes, it just means that even though we have such a vast diversity of qualities in our genetic codes, we still need to treat everyone with the same equal amount of respect.

I say embrace  your paradox. Embrace your uncertainty and your questioning. Never stop asking questions and never stop admiring the wonderful parliament fighting inside of you. It’s what makes us human, after all.

[exanimateisacomic]

Seth is one of those guys who wears those socks with individual toes in them.

Everyone is appalled by this decision.

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi sat in the living room, hugging a pillow and watching something on tv.

His mind wasn’t focused on the screen, all he could see was his actions from that night. The feeling of crushing another persons skull, the fouls sent of demon blood and Reuben.

He tensed, his grip tightening on the pillow. Reuben was there, he was almost assaulted and was knocked unconscious. Levi thought he was dead and couldn’t have that in his mind, he tried to focus on the show but all he kept seeing was his unmoving body in that terrible place.

“H-hey Levi?” A voice said. This snapped Levi out of his dark train of thought and glanced over. It was Reuben. He didn’t have his usual look of indifference but instead one of concern.

He was dressed in a large sweater and wore jogging pants. His hair was messy and slick, like he just stepped out of the shower. The sent of body wash confirmed that.

Levi just stared at him. His body trembling and a tear running down his face. He just waved at him.

Reuben nodded “I heard from my folks that you-you saved me?” He spoke in a soft voice

Levi slowly nodded. He tried to speak again but all that came out was “y- uh-eh-“ he looked away in shame and curled up on the couch.

Reuben stuck his hands in his pants pockets. “Dad said you were not speaking, I just figured he meant like in a willing sense.”

Levi shrugged and looked down at the floor, Reuben walked further in and sat on the opposite side of the near catatonic demon.

“Look, I know I’ve given you a hard time and have caused you unnecessary pain. But what you did for me that night, I’m thankful for. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

Levi uncurled and looked at the young demon. “Ah- uh-“ he shut his mouth and reached for his pad and pen. He scribbled for a second and held up his pad to Reuben

“You are welcome. I am glad you are safe too.” Was scrawled on the pad.

Levi tried to give a smile but his composure faltered and he just curled up again, dropping the pad in the process. He sobbed a little bit and buried his face in his sleeve.

“Why are you so upset? I’m safe now!” Reuben stated

Levi reached down for the pad, tore a page and wrote some more, he flipped it so Reuben could read.

“I am upset because I killed the man that attacked you in a brutal way.”

The pad fell once more, and Levi curled up again.

Reuben looked confused “wait, I thought you killed people before, why was this any different?”

Levi didn’t move, he looked down at the pad, unwilling to write. luckily Luis stepped in

“It’s because it was the demon in Seth that did the killing before.”

Reuben turns to his dad “what?”

He explained “I’m not sure how but when the demon takes possession of Seth, Levi is able to take control from the demon. But he struggles, hence the odd infliction when he talks.”

Reuben looked back at Levi, now seeing that his horns and bare nostrils aren’t his real face but that of Seth’s inner demon. The only thing that was truly Levi was his eyes. “Oh, so the demon is in the body now but it’s Levi behind the wheel?”

Luis nodded “yep. And when Levi did what he did, that was all him. The first time taking a life.”

Levi shielded himself with his arms, trying to block out their conversation “s-st-“ he clammed up and just shook his head.

Luis realized his mistake. “Sorry, sorry. I should’ve known better.” He walked over and patted Levi’s back “we’ve got some leftovers in the fridge I can heat up, would you want that?”

Levi lowered his arms and looked up at Luis with his big teary green eyes. He stared for a minute. “Ye-y-“ he tried to talk but the words were still getting caught in his throat. He just nodded after closing his mouth.

Luis nodded back “okay then, Reuben?” He turned to his son “would you like some too?”

Reuben hesitated but shrugged his shoulders “sure, doc said I needed to eat a little more.”

Luis smiled and turns back to Levi “so you want to stay here or come with me to the kitchen?”

Levi finally sat up in his seat and was nodding

“I figured. It’s not fun being alone.” He led the way, Levi shuffling behind him as they made their way to the kitchen.

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi: (sitting by the doorway to his room, letting his feet rest past the doorframe)

Eliza: (walks by) oh, hey levi.

Levi: oh! Mrs. lynch! Uh… (pulls feet back into his room) sorry…I-I had my feet outside my room and-and…(curls up into a ball) I am sorry.

Eliza: …(exhales) okay. I’ll tell you what.

Levi: ?

Eliza: I know I’ve been tough on you. Maybe unjustly. Here’s the deal: you can leave your room tonight. And if you behave, we can talk about making it permanent.

Levi: (shoots up into a standing position and looks at her with wide eyes) R-really? I do not have to stay in my room when-

Eliza: (holds out her hands to calm him down) yes. Now, Do you promise to behave?

Levi: (nods) yes, yes I do, mrs. lynch!

Eliza: alright (steps aside) go on then.

Levi: (Takes a step outside) (big smile in is face) oh! Oh! This is! Exciting! Thank you, thank you very much, mrs. Lynch! (Takes another step and trips into the hallway)

Eliza: oh! Jeez, are you okay?

[exanimateisacomic]

It was a morbid question that gave him a brother.

Seth pondered at the kitchen table one morning when a curious thought fluttered across his mind

“Do-do you think I could visit my grave?”

Luis almost spat out his juice. “Uh-um…you-you want to see your grave?”

Seth nodded. “The school I go-“ he cleared his throat “went to, included a burial plot along with the scholarship I got.”

Luis gave him a look.

“I was getting my degree in cadaver sciences, they offered a lot for anyone who was interested.” Seth added, shrugging it off. “I even got the administration board to agree to bury me along my mom and dad.”

Luis paused as he got lost in thought. He finished his glass and set it down with a thunk. “Well…” He checked his watch “I’m free all day today.”

‘Not surprising’ Seth thought to himself. He could hear Levi chuckle

“We can head out in like an hour, need to get my stretches in.” Luis said with his usual charming smile.

Seth nodded. “Good.”

It was a quiet fall afternoon, and the winds that blows through the Combs Memorial Yard was swift. There was a pause as wind died down and a booming sound was heard. Smoke filtered out of the mausoleum that was by the front gate. Luis stumbled out coughing and waving his hand in a futile attempt to clear the smoke.

“Oh *koff* god. I knew I was rusty in opening a quick portal but that was *cough* ridiculous.” He said, zipping up his jacket and gaining his surroundings.

Another figure stumbled out, coughing as well. “Noted.” Seth said, buttoning up his cardigan. He shivered as the wind picked back up. “All that time down there, I didn’t realize I had gotten used to the heat.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.” Luis said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cell phone with the words “mortal plain” written on a piece of masking tape on the back. “Alright.. it looks like…oof, you technically died about a year ago. According to this news article at least.”

Seth looked at him “a year…” his gaze floated away from Luis towards the ground.

Luis clicked the phone off and walked up to him, resting his hand in his shoulder “I’m sorry bud. Do you need a minute?”

Seth snapped out of it and looked at Luis “no I’m- I’m good.”

Luis looked deep on his eyes “and Levi, are you okay?”

Seth felt his hand go numb and then move on it’s own, raising out of his pocket and forming a fist and holding it out like for a fist bump, moving up and down. ASL for “yes.”

Luis nodded. “Right.”

Seth felt his hand fall to his side and the feeling returned.

Luis started patting his pockets looking for his cigarettes. His brow furrowed as he was unable to locate them. “The fuck?” He looked back over to the mausoleum, jogged over and picked up some of the debris from the ground “aw man, my fucking smokes.” He walked over and showed Seth. The debris was smashed tobacco and torn paper. Luis sighed as he scanned the horizon, catching the glow of a nearby gas station sign in the sky.

“Okay look” he said to Seth “I’m gonna head over there and get some smokes, did you want to tag along or are you okay going in there by yourself?” Luis paused “well, not alone but- you know what I mean.”

Seth looked at the gates of the cemetery “I-we should be okay.”

Luis nodded. “Alright, I’ll be as fast as I can” he took a breath and phased into his human disguise.

He turned and made a dash for the gas station, leaving Seth there.

Seth took a breath and walked away from the gate and into the cemetery.

Seth gazed from grave marker to grave marker, the leaves crunching under his feet. He smiled,He missed the satisfying sound of them. he took a breath and let the cool air rest in his lungs before exhaling. ‘Right, left, right’ he thought to himself as he navigated the pathway. He could feel his body temperature flare up as he began to see familiar names appearing on the markers.

He was getting close.

And then, there it was. He stopped several feet from the black ebony marker. He stared at the name etched into the stone. The serif font standing out with its bright white coloring.

‘MORRIS’

Seth became aware of something. He should be anxious, his chest should be tightening with worry. But it wasn’t. He felt numb. His temperature ran cold.

“Okay Levi, here we go.” He muttered to himself as he took a step forward.

Then another. The names became clearer.

‘MORRIS’

‘David Morris 1970-2012’ ‘Mary Morris 1972-2012’

He looked down and saw his name on the bottom right, but…

“Wait..”

What he saw made his blood run cold. He hadn’t been this close to the marker before. From a distance you could only see the top two names. But there was a name next to his.

‘Levi Morris 1995-2012’ ‘Seth Morris 1998-2022’

“What?” He found himself saying, his eyes vibrated as they locked on to Levi’s name. “But- but- GAH!”

He felt the shooting pain along his left temple. He staggered back and stumbled onto one knee, he felt the pain spread like fire, his body going numb at it rippled across his body.

He was losing control.

Seth, overwhelmed by this information, let himself slip into unconsciousness as Levi took control of the body.

Levi opened his eyes and looked back at the marker.

“I..I am your older brother?” He said, getting back up and looming over the stone before him.

“I… died that night…in the fire?”

He could feel the tears rolling out from his eyes and down his cheeks.

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi: (has a very heavy night of fighting and is traumatized by it)

Levi: (the next night, he is more withdrawn and silent, he has gone mute from the trauma)

Luis: (knocks on his door) hey Buddy? You-you okay? (Opens the door and peers in)

Levi: (sits up in his bed, turns to look at Luis and shakes his head) (he hugs himself tightly)

Luis: may I come in?

Levi: (shakes his head no)

Luis: o-okay. (Pauses) Did-did you want to do anything tonight?

Levi: (pauses) (gets up and grabs a stack of cards, shuffling through them and draws one) (walks over and hands it to Luis)

Levi’s card: “I had a very bad night last night and I just want to decompress/relax”

Luis: (reads it) right, right. I’m sorry. (Pauses)I didn’t realize how bad it was last night. (Hands it back to him) You can relax in the living room tonight if you want.

And if you need anything, I’m in my study and Eliza is in her office, okay bud?

Levi: (nods) (shuffles and draws again) (holds it up)

Levi’s card: “thank you.”

Luis: you’re welcome. (looks guilty) Oh, here. (Hands him the key to his snack pantry) help yourself, I’ll take the heat from Seth.

Levi: (looks at the key and grasps it tightly) (picks another card)

Levi’s card: “are you sure?”

Luis: (nods) yeah. I know this won’t fix what happened. (Rests his hands on his shoulders) (Levi flinches slightly) but maybe it’ll make tonight better. (Kind smile)

Levi: (tucks card away) (hugs Luis)

[exanimateisacomic]

“Is everybody okay?” Luis called out after the dust settled. He scrambled up the slab of concrete and overlooked his surrounds, making sure the skirmish of vermin they got ambushed by was gone.

Reuben came up next to him and dusted off his jacket “I’m fine, I had to bludgeon a guy with his severed arm though.”

Luis grabbed him and hugged him tight “okay well…at least he wasn’t armed.”

Reuben looked at his dad “really?”

Eliza walked out and joined them “oh trust me kid, he’s made worse ones!” She said she straightened up her hair.

Luis smiled as he let go of his kid and embraced his wife “oh good your safe too.”

“Yeah, I was over there when something came crashing down but luckily Levi-“

She stopped when she turned to point to Levi behind her, but he wasn’t. She stared at the empty space instead.

“Oh shit.” She muttered.

“When Levi what? Where is he?” Luis questioned

Eliza slowly turned her head back and looked at him with a stone cold stare “he pushed me out of the way of some falling debris…I thought he made it out…”

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi was led outside by Reuben. It seems that he was offering a chance for them to improve their relationship.

They ended up at an abandoned warehouse district only a few miles from the house.

“So what- what are we doing here?” Levi asked as he went to sit down.

“Oh, we’re meeting some of my friends.” Reuben said with a smile.

Levi suddenly felt uneasy. “F-friends?” He repeated. “Oh, y-you did not say anything about friends.”

Levi then saw something dart past him quickly. He jumped as he tried to see what it was “uh-“

Suddenly he was shoved from behind off his seat and fell to the ground. “Oof”

Levi looked up and saw that there were now three other younger looking demons, similar to Reuben’s age. He cowered and looked at them with confusion.

“Oh-are these your f-friends?” He said with a worried smile.

“Yeah. Fellas, this is Levi. The guy who moved in with my folks. Levi, meet Justin, Dustin, and Austin.”

Levi raised his head and was easing a hand for them to shake “Nice to me-“

The taller one, Justin, delivered a steel toed kick to his stomach. Levi let out a groan and a shocked look spread across his face.

“So this is the fucker you were talking about?” Justin said

Reuben nodded. “Yep.”

The thinner one, Dustin, grabbed Levi by the arm to raise him up before punching him in the face. Levi let out an “ugh” before falling back down, tears now rolling down his face

Levi tried to talk “Reuben- why is this”

The shorter one, Austin, silenced him with a swift kick to his back.

The three continued to kick and punch him, reducing Levi to a sobbing bruised mess.

He laid curled up and tried to protect himself, but the punches and kicks kept coming.

At some point they stopped. Levi dared not to move in a vain effort that they think he’s dead.

He was wrong.

Suddenly, Austin grabbed him by his longer horn and dragged him towards a dilapidated wall and slams him against it, breaking Levi’s curled up pose and held him against the wall.

Justin reached into his jacket pocket, Levi noting that his hand was clad in a leather glove. He pulled out a closed switchblade knife, Levi could smell the oil used to live the hinge and-

His eyes widened in fear“W-wrought iron?” He managed to get out before getting punched again.

Reuben suddenly jumped from his sitting position “woah woah hey wait guys, I just wanted you to rough him up, what-“

Justin turned around and flicked the blade open in front of Reuben. “Listen you poser, you don’t know how much this freak goes for. He’s got a bounty on him that would set me-“

“Don’t forget us” Austin piped up, grinning menacingly. Dusting giving a nod in agreement.

Justin sneered at the, before turning back to face Reuben “-us up for the rest of our lives. And all it took was to hang out with a shit head like you.” He pointed the knife at him “With your shit head life, your shithead dad and your stuck up bicycle of a mo-“

Just then, Justin’s head exploded as a suppressed shot rang out.

Reuben jolted back as blood splattered on his face. He fell to the ground as he watched the lifeless body fall limp, the knife clattering on the concrete.

“What the fuck?!” Dustin yelled out just as another shot rang out, causing his neck to explode in a cascade of blood. He fell, choking on his own blood as he gurgled his remaining life away. Reuben looked on as he saw the life leave his eyes.

Austin started to hyperventilate seeing his brothers shot from an unseen assailant. “Who’s there?!” He shouted, drawing a steak knife from his jacket as he kept Levi pinned to the wall “wherever you are, I’ll kill this fucker right here” then holding the knife to Levi as he winced away as the blade rested on his neck.

Eliza peered through her sniper scope as she trained her optics on the blathering idiot that had Levi pinned. He pressed the comm in her ear.

“Lu, I’ve got sights on Levi and Reuben. There’s still one of the bogies holding Levi at Knifepoint, you got him?”

Luis snuck up until he was behind the wall that Levi was pinned on

“I’m right behind them.” He said, cocking the hammer on his revolver and resting the barrel in between the bricks and mortar “watch this.” He said to her

Eliza released the command looked on.

Austin looked around panicked “You hear me? I. WILL-“

BLAM!!

Levi shut his eyes as the shot rang out near his ear as he saw the goon’s head turn into a tumbling mess of brain matter and skull fragments, the body springing away from him and falling with a defiant SPLAT.

Levi looked on, holing a hand up to his ear in an attempt to ease the pain from the shot. He jumped when he felt a hand rest in his shoulder but relaxed when he saw Luis’ face.

“Luis.” He muttered

“Hey, I’m here Bud” he said calmly before embracing him in a hug “you’re gonna be okay.” Levi tightly clung onto him.

Reuben got up and looked on. “What- but- I-“ he squinted as he saw who was helping Levi “Dad? How did you?”

Eliza walked up behind him, swinging the sniper rifle behind her shoulder and grasped at the strap. “We always track you when you head out. Especially when you meet up with your…’friends’. “ she said, wincing at the last word.

Reuben looked up at her “So, you-you’ve known?”

She looked down at him “Of course, you’re our son and this place is really fucking dangerous. If I could, I’d keep you in your room like Levi.”

“That’s true.” Said Luis as he walked up to them, Levi resting his head on his shoulder. “But it was my idea to let you have some freedom. So this was the compromise, we’d keep a close eye on you. Hell, I almost told Liza here to hang back.” He gave Levi’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze “I’m lucky I didn’t. We knew these guys were trouble…but not like this.”

Reuben felt sick. His stomach somersaulting in his body. He looked down at the knife on the ground “Oh god, I almost got killed.”

Levi locked on him, his face bruised and starting to swell up “No, you almost got me killed.” He said coldly, almost sounding like Seth.

Reuben looked to him. “I- wuh-“

Levi continued “I never did anything to you, Not directly. I stayed out of your way. I wanted to be friends, or at least someone you could talk to. You could talk to Seth just fine…”

Levi’s brow scrunched up in distress and sadness as tears rolled down his face once more “but it is just me you have problems with and I-I just do not understand why…why?…” he dove his face into Luis’ shoulder and started to sob heavily. Luis hugged him “Okay Levi, I’ll take you back home. My car is just over here” he said as he slowly started walking past Reuben and Eliza.

Reuben was left standing there with his mom. “My car is nearby too. You’re riding with me.” She reached into her field jacket and pulled out a pack of wet wipes, and practically shoved them into his hands “clean yourself up, we’ll talk more at home.”

[exanimateisacomic]

Levi is sitting with the Lynch family as they get ready for pizza night.

Everyone is ecstatic when Luis comes home with the boxes of pizza and a plastic bag full of sodas. Evidently this place has a great reputation for delicious pizzas.

Eliza takes some of the boxes and sets them on the stovetop, looking for her veggie supreme on cauliflower crust.

Reuben sneaks his box of BBQ brisket pizza and takes one of the 2-liter sodas and walks off to his room.

Levi sits there, nervously tapping his fingers on the table.

Luis check up on him “hey, are you okay?”

“Hm, oh I-I think I am okay.” Levi replies “I am not used to being down here during dinner.” Luis could see the excitement was getting to him a bit.

Luis pats his back and walks back over to the stovetop, grabbing a pizza box and a smaller box and bringing them over.

“Here, I got you some chicken wings too.” He said setting them down in front of him.

Levi looked shocked. “Oh!”

Eliza was taking a bite when she saw this exchange “Oh!” She raised her hand in front of her mouth to finish her bite. “The wings from this place are amazing! I wish I could get them again. You’ll like them Levi”

Levi took the boxes from Luis and looked at them blankly “this is- thank you.” He looked up at them, tears in his eyes.

“Of course buddy.” Luis said “did you want to eat here or in the living room? I was gonna put on a movie.”

Levi thought for a second, his arms still embracing the pizza boxes “I think I will join you in the living room.”

Luis nodded and grabbed the last pizza box, a small Hawaiian for him, and took it with him as he left the kitchen “Oh, and that other soda is for you. It’s ginger ale, helps with upset tummies.”

Levi looked over at the golden soda bubbling in its bottle “ooo.”

[exanimateisacomic]

Eliza agreed to keep an eye on Levi while she ran her nightly operation at Club E.

They were in her office as she was looking over her floor plan, trying to figure out how to reconfigure the club to maximize occupancy and profits.

Levi was just staring out the window, munching on some salty butter crackers. He paused his snacking and looked out on the floor.

“Hm.” He muttered

“What’s that?” Eliza said, not prying here eyes from the desk.

Levi pointed “if you reduced those booths on the left hand side of the club and replace it with standing cocktail tables, you would have more breathing space.”

Eliza paused. She looked up at him and back to the floor plan. “Can-can you show me on the plans here?”

Levi looked back at her surprised. He shuffled over and looked at the plans, rubbing his hand on his sweater to get the crumbs off and pointed. “Here.” He said, pointing to the wall booths

Eliza placed a sheet of tracing paper over the plans and sketched out the booths and penciled in the cocktail tables. “Huh…”

Levi stepped back “w-what? Is that not-“

“Two weeks.” She muttered. “I’ve been sitting on his problem for two weeks. And you- you solved it in a few minutes?”

Levi looked uncomfortable “I-I am sorry.”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?! You’ve figured it out!” She looked up at him with a friendly smile “it’s a weight off my shoulders. I- how did you figure it out?”

Levi pointed to the window “I-I just noticed that the floor layout was not symmetrical. The left side had some clutter-I mean the booths were taking up more space as compared to the right.”

Eliza shot up from the desk and walked over to the window and observed. “Huh,” she looked right to left and back “you’re right.”

Levi still looked uncomfortable “I-uh…yeah.” He said

Eliza slicked her hair back, the gusto back in her step. “I’ll have to call the contractor in the morning and have him draft up some final plans.” She dashed over to her desk and started writing in her planner

Levi was still standing there, box of crackers held tightly in his hands. “Uh…I-I am going to sit down then, if that is alright.”

After writing, she slammed her planner closed. Causing him to jump up in place. “Gah!” He exclaimed, looking scared.

Eliza looked up at the spooked Levi. “Oh Levi, I’m sorry.” She got up and walked over to him “I just-this really helped me out And I got excited.” She gave him a tight hug to calm him down “also it means we can take the night off and go home.” She let him go and could see a smile on his face.

Levi’s look of relief was replaced with mild disappointment. “Oh…”

Eliza looked at him “something wrong?”

Levi perked up “oh! It is just- this is one of the few times I have been out of the house. And now we are going back and-“ he sighed “I am sorry, I should not complain.”

Eliza paused for a minute. “Hmm…that’s true.” She thought for a sec. “Well…I guess we could do something else before going home” she looked at levi and his clothes- well the clothes they were able to lend him. Not any if his own.

“Say, how about we take you and get some new clothes?”

Levi looked surprised “uh-n-new clothes?”

“Yeah! Why not? It’s the least I could do for you. Plus we could get you something more like your sweater.”

Levi looked down and felt his sweater. “It is comfy… “ he looked up at her “okay!”