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realfuurikuuri · 5 years

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MissingArm!AU Chapter 4: I Would Give You Until The Count of Ten, but I Can Only Count To Five

Side note: I’m bad at basic math and it turns out the last chapter was mislabeled for Tumblr. Whoops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alright, back with a new chapter. A little later than before, but hey what the heck can you do. Regardless, I think this one is pretty fun. I’ve figured out how to put that banner at the top of things (turns out you hit share on Ao3, who woulda thought) which makes these post look way smoother than before. The song rec this time is A Left Foot Trapped in A Sensual Seduction (which the weebs among us will remember being Alucard’s theme from Hellsing). As always check out @spookylovesboba she’s great, and enjoy the chapter.

Direct Link to chapter 4 on AO3: XXXX

Chapter below the cut

Badgerclops ran through town tired and short of breath, wondering where that feral cat bastard went. Sweetipies turned their heads when they saw Badgerclops him.

“Does Mao Mao have the hose again,” one asked.

“Is Muffin giving out free samples, again,” asked another.

Assholes.

Badgerclops stood on top of a park bench, turning his hand into a megaphone. “Mao Mao,” he called out. “Mao Mao! Mao Mao!”

God, he felt like a green plumber looking for his brother in a haunted mansion. Badgerclops chuckled a bit at his own joke. Maybe he should have said hotel instead of a mansion to make it more current. Badgerclops stopped examining the intricacies of his own comedy when he noticed Pinky waking up to the table with a suspicious jar of mayo in his hands.

“Goss,” Badgerclops said.

“Me or the mayo?”

“Both. Get out of here, Pinky.”

“What are you doin?”

“None of your business.”.

“Are you looking for Mao Mao?”

“Have you seen him?”

“No.”

Badgerclops shot the jar of mayo with his arm cannon. Seeing Pinky mourn did brighten his day a little. Not enough. He still needed to find Mao Mao.

“Hey! Get off of me!”

The noise snapped Badgerclops out of his thoughts. He panicked. Was it too late? Had Mao Mao already done something he’d regret? Badgerclops hurried in the voice's direction, already making plans for a quick exit. He'd already made their packs. Even a third one for Adorabat in case she was brought along, although he doubted they’d keep her. Maybe they’d ditch her at the castle? Badgerclops slapped his face and shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to be stressing about that. Now was the time to find Mao Mao.

Badgerclops rounded the corner and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Mao Mao. It was just Rufus getting harassed by some dog. Why was Rufus still here? He should’ve skipped town ages ago.

“Hey!” he called out nearly making Rufus jump out of his own skin.

Rufus pushed the dog away from the bouquet and snacks that the dog was after. “What do you want,” he sneered.

“Okay, one: rude. Two: don’t be so rude to the guy who can throw you in jail, Three: you don’t ask me what I’m doing; I ask you what you’re so what are you doing?”

Rufus pushed Badgerclops' finger away. “I’m visiting my friend that the blasted sheriff put in the hospital!”

Oh right, the raccoon. Kind of cute that he was still waiting for his friend.

Not cute enough to keep Badgerclops from picking the fox up and shaking him like a can of soda.

“I don’t care about your friend! I’m looking for Mao Mao! Have you seen him?”

“Mao Mao? You mean the black cat?”

“Yes!”

“The one wearing the red cape?”

“Yes!”

“Carrying the golden sword?”

“Yes! Yes! For the love of God, yes! Just tell me where he is!”

“Alas, I haven’t seen him anywhere,” Rufus said with the smarmiest of smiles.

“Okay, you know what,” Badgerclops said, setting the fox back down. "I’m trying to keep someone from being murdered and ya'll are being, like, super ungrateful.”

The dog barked in protest.

“Yeah, that includes you.”

Badgerclops picked the dog up to pet it while he thought. The dog was a milky brown Shiba-Inu. Nothing notable aside from the fact that it had a sword on its back and a necklace. No. It was an amulet around its neck. Badgerclops didn’t pick the dog up just to look at it, he wanted to know who it belonged to. Where in the hell would a sweetipie get a dog and why hadn’t he seen it before? To Badgerclops’ dismay, there wasn’t any address stamped on the collar, but there was a name: Bao Bao .

Badgerclops rubbed his eyes and read the collar again. It still said Bao Bao.

He grabbed Rufus by the collar and used his jacket to wipe at the collar until it shined. Surely enough, it still read Bao Bao.

What? What? This dog was Bao Bao! A dog! A fucking dog! What the shit? Mao Mao described him as an evil barbarian with enough guile to pose as a hero and the psychopathy to abandon a kid whose arm was crushed by a rock! Not a dog! Not a fucking dog!

Badgerclops rubbed his temples, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He should have expected this. He was the most overdramatic motherfucker to ever motherfuck, but damn dude. Whatever he resolved to accept that Mao Mao’s worst enemy was literally an animal. He just needed to kick the dog out of the valley and wait for Mao Mao to calm his tits. No, that wouldn’t do. If no one caught Mao Mao he’d definitely kill someone.

Badgerclops pushed the dog into Rufus’ hands. “Take this dog and get him out of the valley. I don’t care how it gets done. Just do it,” he ordered.

“What? I’m going to visit my friend and besides I don’t have to do anything you say.”

Badgerclops pointed his arm at Rufus, letting it shift into the high powered cannon. “C’mon just take the dog away, you know, before someone gets hurt.”

“Alright just don’t shoot me! I don’t wanna be shot!”

“There we go. Now get out of here before someone -and by someone I mean you- gets messed up.”

Badgerclops watched Rufus turn away to finish his task.

Thump!

Badgerclops stopped.

He turned around just in time to see a black blur with a streak of gold.

It was Mao Mao!

Badgerclops swung around brandishing his arm, opening his eye, taking careful aim. The window was more narrow than a pinhole. He watched and waited. He watched Rufus see the sword and scream in terror. He waited for Mao Mao to swing his sword with all his might.

Now!

Badgerclops let loose a net. The wound-up ball slowly spread out, snagging Mao Mao out of the air, pinning him against the wall. Badgerclops ignored Mao Mao to put his fingers to Rufus’ neck. The fox's eyes had rolled back, and foam had gathered in the corners of his mouth;The look made Badgerclops’ fur stand on end. He breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brow when he finally felt a pulse. The fox was definitely not fine, but he wouldn't die anytime soon. Although, the scare shaved years off his life.

Once was done with Rufus; he had to deal with Mao Mao.

Mao Mao strained against the net fruitlessly. Bao Bao looked up at his old friend, shivering, ears folded back with tail between its legs. Mao Mao probably couldn’t even hear the dog’s whimpers. He screamed at the top of his lungs. It was had no expletives. It had no threats. It only had a long, grueling explanation of his pain.

Badgerclops reached over, petting Mao Mao behind the ears. “Alright dude, let’s just chill and- “

Mao Mao quickly snapped at Badgerclops’ hand. His teeth clanging against the steel. “C’mon dude, don’t do that. I don’t want to schedule a trip to the dentist.”

He let go of Badgerclops’ hand with a huff, but he still had that dark flame burning in his eyes.

“Badgerclops,” Tanya said, dropping down from the rooftops,” Is everything alright?”

“I’ve got things all tied up,” he said pointing to Mao Mao who didn’t find his joke amusing.

Tanya faced Mao Mao with a sullen look in her eyes. She reached out her paw to wipe a tear from his eye. Mao Mao shook her comfort away with an angry grunt. “Oh, Mittens,” she quietly cried. Tears began to fall down the Tanuki’s face, but Mao Mao didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“You should probably take Bao Bao and go before-”

Badgerclops was interrupted by a screeching roar echoed throughout the kingdom. Badgerclops facepalmed his own stupidity. He was so focused on the Bao Bao part of the message that they completely forgot about the monster. He could see the smoke, hear the screams as it rampaged.

“Tanya." He gave a slight nod of his head," where's Adorabat?"

“I left her at the house.”

Damn the fact that she was a responsible adult. She shouldn’t have to see this, but he did wish she was here. He and Tanya were the only ones who could fight; the dog was a maybe, and Mao Mao was still in the net.

“You think we can take it?”

“I… don’t know. Maybe?”

Fantastic. The moment he thought he had things under control they go right back to shit.

Badgerclops didn’t know how he knew to turn around. It was instinct. He saw the wall behind Mao Mao began to crack and crumble as the monster charged through. The beast was large, green and scaly, like a snake with four legs. It moved like one too. Delicately turning on a dime, clinging to the side of a building while it stared them down.

His small hope that the beast would leave them alone was squashed when the monster saw the amulet around Bao Bao’s neck.

It lunged forward. Mouth open to show a wide maw. In a narrow alley like this, there was nowhere to run. It could probably get them all in one quick gulp. Badgerclops supposed such a terrible end fit such a terrible day.

A naïve thought.

Mao Mao stepped in front of the beast, sword on his back to block the teeth, heels digging into the ground as he forced the charging beast to a slow stop. Tanya, Bao Bao, Badgerclops, and the Mao Mao stopped in sheer confusion and awe. The monster didn’t hesitate. Its tail lashed at Mao Mao from the left, ripping at his skin like a whip. The tail lashed Mao Mao from the right, forcing him to stagger.

The third strike whistled through the air, barely blocked by Mao Mao’s sword. The next lash came with enough force to knock Mao Mao of balance despite blocking it. He parried the next strike, yet it still sent him cartwheeling through the air.

The second his feet touched the ground he was off. A black blur with a streak of gold. The gold cut the tip of the beast tail causing the monster to howl in pain before being silenced with a plunging attack through its skull. Badgerclops hates to admit it, but the bastard cat carried the sheriff's department.

He pulled his sword out of the monster and hopped down off the corpse. He dragged his sword on the ground behind him as he walked forward. His movements were smooth, flowing like a steady stream. Despite wearing an inviting smile, the dark flames in his eyes were raging like a wildfire.

Tanya stepped in front of him before he could get any closer. “Stop. Just… for the love of god stop, and let the dog go.”

“You’re right. I just want to... apologize to Bao Bao. Wish him well,” Mao Mao said with an almost cartoonishly large and toothy smile.

“Do I look some fucking clown to you? I know you’re lying! Just put the sword down and let the dog go.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just want to say apologize to my childhood friend-”

SMACK!

Tanya interrupted Mao Mao with a strong slap across the face.

When he turned back the smile was gone; the dark flames still burning.

“Move,” he commanded.

“Why do you have to be like this,” she asked, her voice rising in pitch. “Can’t you just let things go? Whatever Bao Bao -this dog- did to you is in the past. It already happened and you can’t change it!”

“I know nothing can change it. I don’t expect it to. I’m not trying to change anything. I’m just trying to do some justice,” he said with a voice as cold as stone, “so, I’ll tell you once again: move.”

“No!”

Mao Mao didn’t hesitate to push past her, knocking her to the ground while he brought his sword down. Bao Bao quickly hopped out the way. Mao Mao followed the dog close behind, stabbing down over and over again, the calm facade splitting at the seams as his frustration grew.

“I’ll kill you,” he screamed, finally cornering the dog. He raised his sword up as Bao Bao looked up in terror.

Badgerclops grabbed his arm before he could finish. “Calm down! He’s just a dog-”

Mao Mao spun around, dropping the sword, tears welling in his eyes. “That dog ruined my life !”

“He did this! ” He pulled back the cape to reveal the stub of his left arm.

He picked the sword back up, raising it high over his head. “And I’m going to do it to him!”

Tanya was quick.

In a puff of smoke one, Bao Bao turned into thirty. In the second that Mao Mao stopped in confusion, she dashed forward, snatching the real one away before Mao Mao cut the horde into bits.

“Bao Bao,” he screamed,” get back here!”

Badgerclops tackled him to the ground before he could give chase. “Bao Bao! Bao Bao!” he screamed and screamed until his voice went hoarse.

* * *

Mao Mao lay in bed at HQ with his blanket tucked over his head. He felt like shit. Stopping the monster’s charge wore down the flesh on his feet to the bone, despite the monster's teeth stabbed seven holes into his back, one dangerously close to his spine, but the physical pain didn’t matter much. It was his feeling that were tearing him apart. It was one part burning rage; another part nauseating shame.

He heard footsteps approach. It couldn’t have been Adorabat cause she liked to fly (where did she go); they were too heavy to be Tanya’s (not like she wanted to speak to him anyway), so it had to be Badgerclops.

“How ya feeling,” he asked.

Mao Mao let out a small grunt.

“Camille said you should be fine. Just take it easy. Don’t try to jump around or anything.”

He made another small grunt.

“You feeling okay?”

Mao Mao nodded from under the blankets.

“Good to hear. Just get some rest, man.”

“What about Bao Bao,” he grumbled out. His throat was still raw and sore from all the shouting.

“Tanya took him with her.”

Mao Mao let out a shuddering sigh.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Mao Mao nodded more forcefully this time.

Badgerclops scooped Mao Mao up into his arms. Cradling the bundle of blankets and clutching him close. “Listen, I know we all have our issues and hangups, and I know this day has been hard for you-”

“You don’t.”

“Hm?”

“You don’t know how hard it's been for me! I hate- hate - that dog. He’s everything wrong with me! I wanna wring his stupid little head from his silly little body!” Mao Mao choked on his words,” I wanna- I wanna…”

Badgerclops pet him behind the ears,” what do you want?”

“...I want to be alone for a bit.”

“How about this,” Badgerclops said,” I can take Adorabat camping for the weekend? We’d be back Sunday. You’d have the house to yourself. How does that sound?”

“Yeah,” Mao Mao slowly nodded,” Yeah, that sounds nice.”

#fanfic #mmhoph #Mao Mao #Badgerclops #Adorabat #Tanya Keys #Pinky #Rufus #Ho boy this is long #I'm hammering this poit in but I mean it #check out Spookylovesboba #She's funny #She does fanart #makes funny videos #she's great #MissingArm!AU

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libralita · 6 years

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January Wrap Up | 2019

This month I tried to read as many books as I possibly could because I’m starting my second semester of college and I know that I will not have time. I also really want to try and beat last year’s record of 150 books so I want to stay ahead of how many books I was reading last year. I really succeeded. I read a total of eighteen books which is amazing! A lot of those books were really great as well.

The first book I read of 2019 was Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce:

This book started out a little rocky. I didn’t really like how fast we went through Arram’s schooling. Especially because it didn’t feel like the trio really grew that much until the end. But as Arram started to change and start to discover who he is then the story got a lot better. I really liked seeing Arram healing, it really felt like he was in his element and how passionately he works. I wish we got to see more of Varice, I still don’t really understand what a kitchen witch is. Ozorne was interesting but I also feel like I want to see more of him. I don’t know whether I’ll continue on with this series.

Next I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami:

While I enjoyed this book, it wasn’t as good as 1Q84. The most interesting part of this book was the flashbacks to Manchuria and Boris the man skinner. It was horrifying and interesting. Toru wasn’t ask interesting as the other characters in 1Q84 and this book felt a little bit more pointless. However it was still interesting and the ending really saved it. I gave this four out of five stars.

Next I read The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz:

I really loved Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe so I decided to read his other books. This book started out a bit rocky. I always get a little annoyed when authors throw in a bit of Spanish to make sure you know your Mexican characters are Mexican. The “No bueno” thing was really annoying. Every book that tries to be feminist, ends up being sexist. However, when the completely heartbreaking stuff started to kick in, I started to really enjoy this book. My favorite character was Fito Fresquez. He had such a tragic story and his sadness felt so real. While I had issues with this book in the beginning it turned out to be a pretty good book. I gave this book five out of five stars.

Then I went back to Haruki Murakami with Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage:

This book was so good and has the protentional to be one of the best of the year. I related so much to Tsukuru because if I had a group of close friends and they suddenly decided to cut my out of their group, I would have no idea what to do. I also really liked Haida and am sad that there was no closer on what happened to him. What happed to Shiro is crazy and I would never forgive the friends for what she did. I’m sad that we didn’t get to see if Sara accepted Tsukuru but I think she did so there. I gave this book five out of five stars.

Next I randomly picked up The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt:

This was an interesting book. It reminded me of Name of the Wind and that’s not a bad thing. It has beautiful writing and Theo reminds me a lot of Kvothe he has a serious passion, is border lined obsessed with a girl, and has a tragic backstory with his parents. I think the only thing that I didn’t like was that time jump was a little jarring, I wish that it had been more led in. But I really enjoyed this story. It was just…beautiful. I gave it five out of five stars.

I finally finished Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy with The Last Command:

This book was so amazing. Leia had her twins, Jaina and Jacen, and I cannot wait to see more about them. The ending is what really made this book great. There was a Luke clone which was such a good twist. Then in order for Mara to be free of the Emperor’s control she kills Luuke Skywalker. Very clever. Then Luke gives Mara his lightsaber. That’s so sweet. Such a great ending to this trilogy. Five out of five stars and one of the best of the years.

I continued on with Silver Spoon with Volume 4 by Hiromu Arakawa:

I really enjoyed this volume! It’s nice to come back to this lighthearted series. I really like seeing more of Hachiken’s family, especially his father. I can’t wait to see more flashbacks of his middle school mental breakdown…does that make me a bad person? Any way, five out of five stars. Fun time.

Next for my YA Literature class I had to read the Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater:

So I don’t really like the way Stiefvater writes. She usually has really great writing, semi-interesting premises but BORING characters. And this was no different. So borrinnggggggggg! I had to read this book for my YA Literature class and oh my god I was so uninterested in this book. The characters were so dull, I didn’t even bothering learning the side characters name. I didn’t care about the romance. I didn’t care about the world. I was so uninterested in this book. The premise was kind of interesting but it doesn’t save this nothing of a book. I gave this book one out of five stars.

Next I picked up The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman:

This was an incredibly sad story to read, like all Holocaust stories. The only problem I had with this is that the present day storyline too up a little too much time. I care more about what happened during the Holocaust then Vladek’s marriage problems. But it was still a great story. Five out of five stars.

Then I read An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington:

I would say that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first one. I wish we could have seen more of Caeden, Davian, Wirr, Kara, and Asha together. At points they would see one another but I really want to see them all interacting. But again Islington is really great at doing dark twists. I think Caeden is my favorite character. Everything with his wife and the shapeshifter. But then at the end of the book when Caeden had killed older Davian. That is so insane! Such a good book. I gave this book five out five stars.

I was in the mood for super sad contemporary after reading Aristotle & Dante and the author’s other books so I bought They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera:

I didn’t like this book as much as More Happy Than Not. I think it’s because I didn’t really care that much about Mateo and Rufus’s relationship. I teared up a little bit when Mateo died and the ending was pretty good. However, I think the premise of two people falling in love on their final day is really cool, I just think that it wasn’t as powerful. It would be a three star but the ending bumped it up for a four.

Next I picked Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton

Alright take this review with a grain of salt because I absolutely adore these types of stories. I’ve always had a soft spot for ballet school dramas. I use to love Dance Moms, Bunheads, and this one Australian show that I can find no matter how much I google it. Point being I love ballet stories and I love the dramaz. This book was full of drama. So much romance and backstabbing…or foot stabbing. I gave this book five out of five stars.

After really loving the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt I decided to pick up The Secret History:

This book slightly missed the mark for me. It was still good, I gave it four out of five stars because I really enjoyed the transition from the friendship between the group of Greek students to then killing Bunny and the aftermath. However, I think after a while when the students are starting the spiral out of control, I stopped caring. Especially Charles, I did not like his transformation. It was very annoying and he was a character that I really liked. So, I’m sad that it missed the mark but it was still a good book.

Next the final book that I had to read for my YA Literature class was Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson:

I’m not much of a poetry person so I that probably hindered my enjoyment of this book. It was an interesting story about a black girl growing up during the Civil Rights movement in America. It was interesting to see the different places throughout America and her family life. There were a few really great poems, most of them got the point across. I gave this book four out of five stars.

I then continued with the Tiny Pretty Things Duology with Shiny Broken Pieces by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton:

So I liked this book a little less than I did the first one. This duology is really a guilty pleasure series. I just love it for the drama. I actually think this book handled it’s finale a bit better than a lot of other contemporary books do. I think the one problem I had with it was Cassie and her over the top villainy. Like she is perfectly fine with people potentially dying. I felt like Eleanor got the short end of the stick. She was hospitalized twice in this book for the shit that Gigi and Cassie did. Poor girl. And Cassie does have a good case against Bette because Bette was horrible. So her handling made me not like this book as much. But I felt like the ending really made this book work enough to give it five out of five stars.

Next I read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami:

I didn’t really like this book that much. Mostly because I didn’t understand what was going on. Maybe I’ll reread it at some point but right now I could not tell you what the point of this book was. I think I enjoy Murakami’s more realistic stories then he’s completely off the wall stories. That said, he had the beautiful writing, interesting characters, and the world ended so I gave it three out of five stars.

Because I’ve become somewhat obsessed with Japanese literature I picked up Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro:

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of current American YA books, I guess the angst-y teen really is universal. It was a very short book but it covered a lot of stuff about national prejudice between people. It was less than 200 pages but it didn’t feel rushed. It didn’t waste time and gave a really satisfying story about a romance. I highly recommend this book. I gave it five out of five stars.

Finally, I read the Blade of the Immortal Omnibus Vol. 1 by Hiroaki Samura:

It took me a while to get into this book, mostly because it was hard to remember all the characters and who was who. At one point I thought Machi and Rin were the same person. It was also hard to tell what was flashbacks and what was happening in that moment. But after I got into the story and figured out who was who then I really started to enjoy it. It’s a really interesting story about revenge and I really like the dynamic between Rin and the immortal warrior. I really liked this book and I think I’ll continue on with the story. I gave this book five out of five stars.

Those are all the books I read this month and hopefully next month I can read at least a few books!

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lucifersfavouritesinner · 6 years

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Flynn is a nerd

Just recently I hit over a 1000 folowers so to celebrate it somehow I’ve written my first ever fanficion. English isn’t my first language so there may be some errors. Plus I tried to use history facts and I am not @qqueenofhades so this ain’t perfect. But it’s a short fluffy Garcy story so I hope y’all can enjoy it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15206630

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Lucy always knew that Flynn was a history nerd. But just recently she started to notice how much does he really knows. It all started from Salem, when he talked about witch hunt. She was impressed with him and found this trait quite attractive. Well, to be honest she recently found a lot of his traits attractive like his ability to always make her laugh or that he always was there for here or that tongue thing that makes Lucy want to check what else his tongue can do…

Before she went to his room with Vodka in her hands, she never really paid attention to any details regarding interior of his room. But when she was sitting in his bed with half empty glass, casually talking to him she noticed all the little things that she didn’t noticed before. She was also able to spot some well-known history books, some that she has heard of and many that she didn’t know about. Many of them were in languages that she didn’t know. She was impressed again.

One day she woke up really early in the morning and she noticed that he wasn’t in the bed that they shared. He offered his bed for her after the trip to save Robert Johnson, because he couldn’t stand the fact that she had to sleep on that utterly uncomfortable couch. And of course she didn’t agree to his proposal, she didn’t want to steal his bed. He was too tall to sleep on the cot and Lucy couldn’t even imagine how unpleasant would have to be a night on the couch for him, when it was so unpleasant for her and she is small compared to his 6”4 Croatian ass. So they have decided to share the bed. Platonically of course. Anyway, when she has noticed that Flynn was gone she decided to look for him. She found him in the kitchen. He was sitting in front on the laptop. Lucy walked behind him and peeked on his screen. Apparently he was reading about Polish legislative election of 1989. ‑ Why are you reading about Polish election ? – she asked. Garcia jumped and glanced at her. He looked like a child cough stealing candies form the jar. -Well – he responded after a while – I couldn’t sleep so I figured I do some research to see where Rittenhouse could stroke next. I went here to not to disturb you. I checked some things on Wikipedia and I suppose I got lost in all this knowledge, because I clearly remember starting on 2am with the intention on checking some things about Spring of Nations – the thought of Garcia Flynn ex-NSA asset and dangerous killer getting lost in Wikipedia vortex in addition to the ridiculous expression on his face, made Lucy laugh so much she had to keep her hands on her mouth to keep quiet, but she just couldn’t do it. Flynn observed her reaction. The way her whole face lit up, her eyes started shining more than usual and he couldn’t help himself but to smile. It was one of his special heart-melting smiles reserved just for Lucy. -Okay, I get it – he giggled - What do you say about breakfast as a method of bribery for you to forget about this incident or at least to keep your mouth shut in for of the team ? - I am offended that you would assume that I am that cheap – Lucy teased wiping the tears of joy for her eyes. - Oh, expensive aren’t you – Garcia joked and got closer to her face, that she could see subtle stubble on his chin – and if I would make you your favorite meal and served it to you in bed? – Lucy’s cheeks became a little pink because of the way he accented the last part of the question. She noted slightly. - I will be waiting at you in bed – she said as she turn around to go to their room and to hide –now- red cheeks. Flynn smirked to himself and get up to make some breakfast. When he came back to their room Lucy was sleeping as if nothing had happened. He didn’t have the heart to wake her up so instead he laid the tray with food on the makeshift coffee table and slipped himself to bed. Soon enough they were both sleeping cuddled to each other platonically of course.

They were woke up by the alarm. The mothership jumped. Lucy and Flynn joined the team in the common room. – Poland, Lipno 10 May 1961 – Rufus exclaimed. – What the hell happened in Poland in 1961? – asked Wyatt. Lucy stared at him blankly. She had literally never heard of anything important happening in Lipno in 1961. Then she heard Garcia laughing like he just heard the funniest joke of his entire existence. The whole team was staring at him. They never seen ‘this’ before. – Is he laughing ? Actually laughing ? Like a human person ? – Rufus questioned. Jiya looked at him shocked and a bit amused by the behavior of Flynn. Unlike Wyatt who demanded explanation – What so funny about this Flynn ?- Garcia glanced at Lucy with extreme joy in his eyes and answered – Well, In 1961 in Lipno Lech Wałęsa Polish politician and labor activist finished school. Guessing by your puzzled looks you have no idea who Lech Wałęsa is and why he is so important to the history – stated Flynn - He co-founded and headed Solidarność, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union and thanks to him and 1989 Round Table Agreement there was Revolutions of 1989 sometimes called the Autumn of Nations – finished Flynn and then done his usual tongue thing. Everybody apart from Lucy looked at him like he just said to them that Wałęsa was the first man to fight the hydra. Whereas Lucy though she will die on the spot because of the way her knees become weak at the end of Garcia statement. Damn him and his extensive history knowledge and his damn tongue that seems to never stay where he supposed to be, but that could be used in some good ways… Lucy coughed because her throat became really dry all of a sudden. – What is this Autumn of Nations you are speaking of ?- Agent Christopher asked. –It’s a part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond – explained Flynn. - The events of the full-blown revolution began in Poland in 1989 and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change – said Lucy. – One of main goals were civil liberty, free and fair elections, right to recall of elected officials, political freedoms and labor rights. Things that Rittenhouse isn’t the biggest fan – added Garcia. – So Poland 1961 it is – stated Rufus. All of them got into the Lifeboat and went to the past.

The whole team managed to steal clothes and now they were heading to vocational school were young Lech Wałęsa was a student. They divided in two groups. Wyatt and Rufus went to scope parameter and Garcia went with Lucy to school to check if the sleeper was inside. Lucy was looking around when Flynn was asking questions to a teacher. He was the only one form the team who spoke Polish. After questioning they went around the school, but they didn’t find anything out of ordinary so they came back to Rufus and Wyatt hoping they discovered something. When they were talking some drunk man started to speak to them. - Pierdoleni Amerykańce - ( Fucking Americans) man started. Flynn was staring at him like he was ready to murder him right there where he was standing - Przyjeżdżacie jakby Polska była waszą własnością i przywozicie to – (You are coming to Poland like you owned the place and you are bringing it) said man pointing a finger on Rufus. –What is he saying ?- Rufus asked not entirely sure if he wants to know the answer. – Sugeruje, żeby Pan sobie poszedł zanim Pan pożałuje, że zaczął tą rozmowe – (I suggest that you leave Mister, before you regret that you stared this conversation) fumed Flynn, his eyes flicked with anger his voice was so low it almost sounded like a growl- Flynn what is happening? –Lucy asked and put her arm on his shoulder to stop him from killing this man on the spot – To jest mój kraj i chuja mi Pan może zrobić – (This is my country and you Mister can do shit to me) responded drunk fellow, clearly alcohol disrupted his senses, because nobody right on their mind would said this to angry ex-military asset - więc weź tą swoją dziwkę i spierdalaj – ( so take your whore and get the fuck out) and with this words Garcia Flynn punched the man with full force causing him to fall with blood dripping from his nose. Everybody looked at Garcia with question in eyes. – You really don’t want to know what he was saying – he stated. – I think we do, you just punched him in the face – Lucy demanded. – Well he said that Rufus was “it”, he also said that we have to fuck off and that you are a… - he made a pause then looking with contempt on the man still laying on the ground- streetwalker, but he used stronger word. – I think… that in that case it’s justified –Rufus exclaimed after a while of awkward silence and Wyatt nodded slightly. – Okay let’s move on with a mission – said Lucy. They managed to finish the mission without any other obstacles on their way.

When they came back Wyatt went straight to Jessica, because it was their ‘date night’. After Rufus changed his clothes he and Jiya put some Netflix on and started watching one of theirs favorite tv series “Lucifer” saying that “Fox made huge mistake, but it’s okay, cause Netflix is better and doesn’t support Cheeto Voldemort”. In the meantime Lucy went to bathroom and Flynn to their room to change. Next both of them went to the kitchen. Garcia wanted to start dinner, but Lucy stopped him by putting her hand on his. She looked firmly at his bruised hand. – You know you can’t just go around punching people that saying dumb things – she remarked – You would be punched really often if that kind of action was legal – Flynn smirked while Lucy went to the freezer to get some ice for his hand. She put some ice cubes into the towel and then she took Garcia’s hand and placed ice on it. He made a tiny groan of pleasure. Lucy suddenly become extremely aware of the small space between them. She could smell his cologne that scent felt like home. They looked each other in the eyes with trust, devotion and something that Lucy couldn’t really put a finger on. – Well, good thing I can defend myself – Flynn responded with a smile on his lips. Lucy put down the towel with ice and checked his hand for more injuries, when she touched one spot he hissed quietly. – I didn’t touched you that hard, what are you twelve ? – Lucy asked amused – Yes on scale from one to ten – he smirked. – Oh my God. I can’t believe you just made that joke. You’re like a homicidal baby trash weasel. – she laughed. – And I am proud of that title. And now If you- tiny beautiful impressive historian – let me I’m gonna do the dinner – Lucy blushed deeply at his remark – Did you just called me tiny, beautiful and impressive all in the same statement ? – Garcia moved closer to her - I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true – he grinned.

Meanwhile Jiya and Rufus stopped watching the TV and focused on the couple in the kitchen – Are they flirting with each other ?- Rufus whispered. – I don’t think that they are aware of that, but that seems about right – Jiya replied and both of them returned their attention to the screen, because Lucy finally closed the gap between her and Flynn and they started to making out. –Finally – thought Jiya.

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lettersofsky · 6 years

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April Fools Me Please

Bitter Soulmates - Send some in ;3

@asylos gave me the idea of using “Oh – this. This is a joke. Very funny. You can call April Fool’s now!” with Reno for April Fools! (Which is today/tomorrow) so here you guys go!!

Pairing: Reno/Rufus - because I had an idea and I ran with it

Ko-Fi/Tip Jar

Reno never expected to meet his soulmate, it just wasn’t a thing that happened to people like him; people that were just meant to survive until they died in the slums. It was just the way it was, nothing he could do to change it so why bother getting pissed about it?

He didn’t even know what he’d do if he did meet the person, it’d just be another person to look out for and it was hard enough to keep his own skin on his back, he didn’t wanna have to deal with someone else’s. And what if they were some idiot who didn’t know what the hell they were doing? How could he possibility be expected to keep someone like that alive here in the slums?

No, it was better that he didn’t know whoever they were. Things were much easier just looking out for himself. Shit was still hard, what with dealers, thieves and scavengers roaming around like they owned the place, and nobody could or would stop them so they pretty much did, and attacking people for some random slight against them. Reno knew it was just an excuse to throw their weight around, make people more scared of them, but it left dead bodies in their wake, so he avoided them where he could.

And then there was Avalanche’s people, everyone knew who they were and that they were here but like hell they were gonna get themselves involved by telling Shinra about them. They weren’t gonna sign their death warrants for some arseholes that didn’t give a damn about them, fuck that.

But, because they were arseholes, the Avalanche guys decided to set up shop in the way to the market and if Reno wanted to get something to eat, with funds he’d acquired in a totally legit way, he’d have to pass them.

It should have been fine. He’d done it a number of times before. He just had to keep his head down and keep going.

But apparently, he wasn’t going to be so lucky today! No! Some fucker just had to run into him while he’d been walking past and knocked them both to the ground, which fucking hurt!

What’s worst is, as he was shoving the arsehole off of him, they’d brushed skin for not even a second and Reno felt that spark of whatever the hell it was people call it when they met their soulmate. Which he didn’t want!

He’d only just met whoever the hell they were, and he already didn’t want anything to do with the idiot, he wanted nothing to do with whatever they were doing with Avalanche, he wasn’t interested at all.

Not that fate cared about that at all.

Not that his soulmate cared about that. The idiot, Reno couldn’t tell anything about them because they were wearing a hooded jacket that literally hid all of their features, grabbed a hold of his arm and started to drag him away from the place they fell.

Reno was too shocked at first to resist the other, letting them drag him along for several feet before forcing them both to a stop.

“Wait a minute!” He yelled, jerking his arm out of the other’s grip and glaring at them. “Where the fuck do you think you’re dragging me?”

“Back, my business here is finished and I’m not staying here any longer than I need to.” The other’s voice was a man’s so at least fate had been kind enough to give him that at least, but he didn’t talk like someone from the slums. Oh, fuck, had he gotten himself some rich kid plate-dweller for a soulmate?

Fuck that.

“No way dude.” He said, taking a step back from his soulmate. His glare grew harsher as he practically snarled at him. “I ain’t gonna be kept like some pet!”

He got the feeling that they were glaring back at him too, before he froze as his backed into a wide, solid chest. He stiffened completely, going stock still as he watched his soulmate pull back his hood enough for Reno to make out his features in the low, artificial light of the slums.

That blue eyes, slicked back blond hair combo was as recognizable as fucking Don Corneo’s gaudy carriage thing. Of course he’d be so fucking lucky to be paired up with a fucking Shinra and from the fucking body guard at his back he could guess exactly which one he was.

“Oh – this.” He sputtered, disbelief and anger mixing in his chest and making the words stick in his throat. “This is a fucking joke. Very funny. You can call April Fools now!”

He hoped that this was just a big mix up and that he wasn’t going to be taken by force to live as some pet for Rufus fucking Shinra, up above plate. He may have a hard time surviving down here but he didn’t want whatever half-life he’d get up there.

“I’m in need of a new Turk,” Rufus said, eyes narrowed at him coldly. “I suppose you’ll have to do. If you die in the line of duty, all’s the more pity to me.”

Fuck this guy if he thought Reno was just gonna be his fucking attack dog, that wasn’t gonna fly! He shifted forward, ready to snarl that in Rufus’ face, only to freeze once again when his soulmate pulled a gun out of seemingly nowhere and pointed in directly between his eyes.

“Unless, of course,” Rufus said, as if he was talking about the weather and wasn’t aiming a gun at his head. “You wish otherwise.”

Reno wasn’t a fucking idiot and he wasn’t in any mood to die anytime soon, so he only really had one choice, didn’t he?

“Fine,” he snarled, defeated for the moment and shifting back to a more neutral stance.

“Good,” Rufus said, gun disappearing before he turned away from him, obviously expecting him to follow. And with the Turk at his back, follow was the only thing Reno could do.

He really did fucking hate this whole soulmate business.

Ko-Fi/Tip Jar

#Reno/Rufus #Reno #Rufus Shinra #FFVII #Soulmate AU #Look what I did!!!#An actual thing!!!!#I hope you all enjoy!!#Skyee Writes

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fuzzydemolitionsquad · 7 years

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Lasat family slice of life story

So I took a short vacation from one project to do a personal project, and I've found that breaking away and changing up really helps reignite passion when it comes to returning to stories that have been in the works for months . . . some even years.

This features my Southern-mountain folk lasat oc's so if you don't reeealy like that sort of thing in the Star wars universe I totally understand. If you're interested though, I encourage a read. I'm trying to improve when it comes to writing engaging characters.

The exaggerated language/words these guys speak is part researched and part imagined. The story is a fiction-y take on old-timey Appalachian culture (space Appalachian culture?) (which I love) It's gradually gets more 'lasat' toward the end.

It doesn't have a title. Maybe someone can help?

-------------

Morning

Southeast Lasan

The sun draped a ribbon of honey-colored light over the highest ridge of the Sou Mountains, alighting the tops of the tallest greenjacket trees. A pale blue moon, flanked by its three smaller satellites, lay low in the fading-star-freckled sky.

Morning had come, and the inhabitants of every mountain home, from Sarrkey Knob to Pricklebush, were awake and bustling with activity. It was the beginning of Spring, a scant few months away from the Dust Season, and the hillfolk in these mountains had much to do. The snow had melted. It was time to plant crops and repair fences and barns. Time to pull hammerhead cow calves and build mud-and- straw nests for farrowing kalgow sows.

Shoog Trodd languished in the cocoon of her feather-down quilt. She knew it was time to get up, and also knew if she didn’t get her furry brown butt out of bed soon, her ma would certainly aid her in the process. ‘The chookens won’t gathee they’s own aigs fer us’, she’d say, waving her apron at her with a flourish.

Shoog lifted the hem of her old nightgown and looked down her skinny legs to her too-large feet and growled to herself. She wished she looked more like her older sister. Sally Trodd was built like one of those Amethyst City gals—the voluptuous ones with glossy fur and whitened fangs—who had their pictures in all the prominent fashion flimsi-mags. Sal would look good in a paper poke, if the occasion ever arose where she had to wear one.

It was Shoog’s Flowering Day, the seventeenth year since her birth, but instead of being happy, she was as glum as could be.

"Gonna have to wear the same dress fer my Flowerin’ Day that I wore fer mah last birthday. And I don’t even have m’ ears pierced. Ma and pa says I’m a woman now, but I still dress like a little ol’ kid. Wish I had some pocket money to least buy some ankle garters."

A chooky rooster crowed on the fencepost and Shoog jumped out of bed. She could hear her ma in the kitchen tossing logs into the iron woodstove. Pa was rousing too. It was customary for pa to utter a few gruff ‘karabasts’ each morning before work. He wished he had more time to enjoy the morning’s light, but soon enough he would be descending into the bowels of the G.R.Gradd-Co Quadranium Mine no. seven, and wouldn’t return home until after the sun had dipped below the mountains. The one thing he looked forward to was ma’s breakfasts, even in the lean times. Today there would be fried scrapple and eggs, sweet gorm porridge and wood-sprite mushroom preserves on last night’s leftover maize bread. And caf, strong and black.

Shoog threw an old coat over her nightdress and ran a comb through her wild hair. She hustled out of her room and trotted for the front door.

"Sugar!"

The lasat girl halted at the sound of her mother’s voice.

"Come sit a spell woodja?"

"Gotta use thee outhouse, ma!"

"I ain’t gonna take long. Sides, Puggles is in there right now."

Shoog tossed her head back and closed her eyes."Chaos, Puggles, I know we is alike, but do yew always hafta go when I need to?"

She marched into the kitchen and sat at the Trodd family’s ancient split log table. She traced her parents initials with her claw. It was a sweet testament to their love, and had been for almost seventy years.

Ma sat down with a cup of caf and propped her strong, brown-furred arms on the table. " Shoog, I was a thinkin,’ I’d like t’ curl yer hair and pin it up with granny’s blue pearl combs fore yer cuzzins and friends show up fer yer Flowerin’ Day party. What’cha think?"

The girl’s pointed ears perked. "That sounds good ma! Kin I ask Sal to pierce my ears? "

Ma’s nasal fold wrinkled in disdain. "Yew know I dun like those. They make a young female look like a fast female."

"What’s a fast female?"

"Thee kind what runs around wid all sorts a’ males. Sparkin’ all thee time and drinkin’ likker! Yew got a reppy-tayshun to keep, Shoog."

Pa, a seven-and-a-half-foot mountain of a lasat, entered the kitchen. He set his miner’s helmet on the table, squeezed ma’s shoulders and gave her a tender nose-press. They exchanged a quick breath.

"Aww, ma, stop beein’ so old-fashioned. If my Sugar wants a cupple lil’ earrings t’ make her head look purtier, then she kin have um. It’s her Flowerin’ Day after all."

Ma was incensed. Her yellow-orange eyes bulged. She pounded the heavy table and it quivered. " Rufus Aloysius Trodd! Donchee dare step on me like that! Iffen I say no, I mean no!"

Pa poured himself a large pottery mug of caf. He quickly pressed the rim of the mug against his lips to hide his smile

Shoog sulked. Sometimes her mother was such a bogan. "Well, kin I at least go to the second-hand and look fer a dress to wear?"

Pa set down his caf. "I’m sorry darlin’. Money’s tighter than a Nemoidian’s fist right now. I still owes the comp-ny store fifty creds from last month. Maybe next year."

"Next year won’t be my Flowerin’ Day." Shoog pushed back her chair and buttoned up her coat. "Pa?" She looked at her fearsome but loving patriarch. "Is yew gonna be at my party?"

" I’m reel sorry darlin. I hafta work all day. We found a new vein a’ quadranium and the boss man want us to fill thee quota afore Secondday."

"Oh." Shoog said, deflated. "I better go git them aigs. Dun want yew to miss yer breakfast."

"That’s a good girl." Ma oiled a skillet and set it aside. "Dun bother lil’ Speckle. Jus’ let her be. Thee other hens wuz picking on her sumthing awful yesterday. I think she’s gonna die."

Shoog winced. "Figgurs. She’s my favrit. What a great day this is turnin’ out to be."

The girl slammed the screened door as she exited the house. Ma and pa looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh, I cain’t stand trickin’ her like this. Do you think she has any idear?"

"None whatsever."

Ma plucked a jar of mushroom preserves off the top shelf and set it on the table."Rufus, yew really owe thee comp-ny store fifty credits?"

"Course not. I’s jus tryin’ to fatten up our story some." Rufus growled low in his throat. It was a plaintive growl, not a scary one. "Cain’t believe my youngest girl-cub is a woman-lasat. Seems like only yesterday she wuz a little sprig, wrasslin’ oalamanders in th’mud."

"An’ Puggles will follow her in a year. Then all of our cubs’ll be growed."

"If Puggles don’ stop sparimentin’ wid them damn farcrackers he ain’t gonna make it to his seventeenth birthday. I swear, that cub’s plumb crazy."

"Yew hesh-up now Rufus. Puggles is just gittin’ out his fluster-ations by havin’ a lil’ fun. Jimbo and Jax won’t stop pickin’ on him. It’s high time they got a few whacks wid Ol’ Skinner."

Pa looked down at the infamous belt around his massive girth and chuckled. One day he’d have to hang it in the shed with the rest of the tools.

"I s’pose yer right. I jus ain’t home enough to discipline them. Heh, at least we kin be thankful Puggles ain’t buildin’ bombs. He shore does take a shine to the boomin’ don’t he? Member how much he loved thunder when he wuz a sucklin’ cub?"

Ma grinned. "Shore enough I do. All dem other cubs wood be quiverin’ under they beds, but Not Puggles. He’d climb all over his crib and giggle and sway like he were list’nin to a funny song."

" Seems like only yesterday." Pa reminisced. "I should take him down to the mine, let him watch the detonite crew at work. He’d prolly like dat."

* * * *

Shoog crouched in the henhouse with a full basket of eggs and Lil’ Speckle tucked inside her coat. Jimbo’s prized hen, a big blue with a row of serrated teeth in her lizard-like jaw, glared angrily at the timid chooken sticking her head out of Shoog’s collar. ‘Lola’ strutted back and forth on one of the henhouse rafters, cluck-hissing, her feathers puffed and her spur toes clacking.

"Speckle, we better git outta here afore Lola shits on us . . . or worse. I’ll keep yew in my closet, but yew gotta be real quiet when I give these aigs to ma. Deal?"

The injured chooken cocked her head. She opened her mouth and waggled her tongue, panting.

When Shoog entered the house, she carried the basket over to the wash counter and set it down. She gripped the collar of her coat, holding it close to her neck, and turned to walk to the small bedroom she shared with Sal. Ma caught her by the ear.

"Yoww!"

"Hold on there. Ain’t yew fergetting something?"

Shoog huffed in indignation. "I has to scrub them aigs on my Flowerin’ Day?"

"It’s yer chore ain’t it?"

"Yeah but . . ."

" Get scrubbin’ missy."

Shoog scowled. She looked over at Sal, who was setting the table. Sal’s eyes met her sister’s as she placed a bowl of fresh churned butter on the table. For a moment, Shoog thought she looked sympathetic.

"Now I know why yew celebrated yer seventeenth birthday in the city wid yer friends. I thought it wuz dumb, but it all makes sense now."

Ma and pa looked at each other, silent as tombs.

Shoog got down to business scrubbing the eggs, trying to keep the chooken in her coat still and quiet. She thought of The Amethyst City—The Royal City—and daydreamed about the King and Queen and their well-dressed court. She thought about the beautiful but air-headed princess, and the handsome, ginger-furred prince. He was tall, with bedroom eyes, a curled mustache and pomaded facial fringes. It was said that he had over a hundred lovers, most of them married, but Shoog didn’t believe it. No lasat, male or female, could have that many lovers! She then thought about the Royal Honor Guard, the cream of Lasan’s military force. They were hand-picked from their barracks by war-council leaders, chosen for their agility and strength and smarts. Shoog couldn’t deny how good the male soldiers looked in their form-fitting armorweave suits, complete with capes, helmets and bo-rifles. A burst of painful pleasure electrified the pit of her belly and she forced herself to think of other things.

When she was done, she dried her hands on the dishtowel and stormed toward her room. Ma shouted after her.

"Breakfast will be ready in about a quarter-tick."

"I’m not hungry!"

Ma’s tough facade melted. She whispered to pa. " I don’ think I kin do this anymore. If I keep it up she’s gunna hate me somethin’ awful."

Pa laughed. " Why don’ yew jus’ let her have her gad-durned earrings? She’ll be as happy as a killow flying through a skeeter storm. They won’t turn her into a wicked woman. Our Sugar is a good girl."

Sal’s eyes narrowed.

Sadie snorted and her slot nostrils flared. "Fine. Mebbe I’ll git my ears pierced too. And buy me one of them low-cut gowns, like thee ones them street corner gals wear."

Sally spat out her coffee and made a high-pitched noise, like a reed-squirrel chipping. The thought of her strong, robust-figured mother in a slinky gown was impossible not to giggle at. Pa however, had a different opinion of the matter. He smoothed down his thick mane of a beard and quirked his brow salaciously.

"Yew git yerself a gown like that Sadie, and I’ll personally throw erryone of our brood outta thee house an tell em to stay away fer three days."

Sally stopped laughing. She rolled her long-lashed eyes.

"Gross, pa. Really gross."

She picked a warty-skinned tuber out of the vegetable bin, tossed it into the air and caught it.

"One set of pierced ears coming up." She said, flouncing and jiggling in a most impressive way.

*******

"I wish I wuz a chooken." Shoog said, filling a box in her closet with old handkerchiefs. Lil’ Speckle flopped around on her bedroom floor. She clucked feebly and pecked at a crumb of food that had fallen between two boards.

"Then I could just strut about, pecking and a’ eatin’ and shittin’ out aigs. I wouldn’t have to worry bout being a Gods-dammed loser on my Flowerin’ Day."

"Aren’t you being a bit dramatic?" Sally said, slinking into the room like a brown-furred Goddess. "It’s hardly the end of Lasan. And you better be careful. Ma will give you the back of the brush if she hears you cursing."

Sally had practiced long and hard to speak like a ‘proper’ lasat, ridding herself of that ‘inherited common-human inflection.’ The humans had left Lasan over a millennia ago, but the ancestors of those lasats who neighbored with them in the mountains still spoke the speak.

"Ooh Shoog, what do you have there? A chooken? Are you, as they say, ‘a’fixing to rile ma up?"

" Cakkhh! Shoog spat-snarled. Stop beein’ so damn snobby. It’s annoyin’! Like it or not, you is a hilltrekker jus like the rest of us, and yew always will be. And yes, it’s a chooken. If stupid Jimbo kin bring his precious Lola in th’ house, I dun see no good reason why I cain’t keep Speckle."

On any other day, Sally would jump Shoog for her insolence. The two would engage in a howling, clawing, hair-pulling battle until ma came bursting in to give their bottoms’ a good beating. But today was Shoog’s special birthday. Sal decided to let it go. She sat down on her bed, rolled onto her belly and folded her arms under her chin. She stared at her sister, a tooka’s grin on her face. "So, how do you feel you little nerf? Different?"

"Why would I feel diff’rent?" Shoog lifted Lil’ Speckle into the box and checked her wounds.

" Because you’re a ‘wahmerr’ now. Sally enunciated the Illasano word for ‘woman.’

"Don’ feel like no wahmerr."

" I mean, what do you think about the jackbeards around these parts? They give you the belly tingles yet?"

Shoog flushed. "Sometimes. But Hells, half of the boys round these parts have scrawny beards and bony shoulders."

"True. However, there’s a handsome jack visiting the Boggs. A dark blue striper without a tail. And he has a nice beard coming in." Sal sighed wistfully. "Wonder who he is and where he comes from?"

The younger girl shrugged. "Dunno. I ain’t never seen him."

"If you play your sabbacc cards right, and flirt like I taught you, he might be your boyfriend . . ." Sal said in a sing-song voice.

"Bogan’s balls, I don’ want no boyfriend. I ain’t ready fer all that. I still sleep wid that howler bear toy granny made me when I wuz five."

"I know. And you still suck your thumb."

"I do not! That’s Puggles!"

"Well, I don’t sleep in Puggles’room."

Shoog was about to make a retort when Sally held up the tuber in her hand.

"Why you got that tater? Is yew gonna throw it at me?"

" No, dummy. Ma finally took pity on you. She’s going to allow me to pierce your ears. See the yellow glass studs on my dresser? Those are for you. I liked them when I bought them, but yellow’s not really my color. Happy Flowering Day, Twig."

Shoog squealed. She hopped up onto Sal’s bed and jumped around like a jitter-tick on a hot speeder engine.

"Is yew serious?"

"Serious as a snake-bite. Now stop jumping. That’s all I need is for you to break my bed and have ma thinking me and some jack did it!"

" Ok, sorry." Shoog leapt down. She rocked on her footpads. Her eight toes kneaded the rug beside the bed.

There was a knock at the bedroom door and ma came in, a clean kitchen towel in her hand.

"Here’s the knife fer the tater and a biled safety pin. Yew sure yew know how to do this Sal?"

"Yes ma. I’ve pierced so many of my friends’ ears I’m practically a professional."

"Land a muddlin’ I shore hope so."

Shoog ran to her mother and squeezed her ample waist. "Thank yew, mama, thank yew!!"

"Alright child, alright." Ma held her out at arms length and looked at her. A tear formed in the corner of her eye. "Don’t yew come cryin’ to me if they get infected, ya hear?"

"I won’t."

Ma wiped her eyes with her apron and stood against the doorframe, watching. Sal cut the potato and set it on the clean towel then got the studs. She put them down and looked around. "Do we have any alcohol, ma?"

" Kingdom a’ Ashla and thee Great Bearded One!! No we don’t."

"I can’t do this unless I disinfect everything."

Shoog whined. "Aww, I knew this wuz too good to be true." She threw herself on her bed and crossed her arms like a petulant toddler. She glanced up. A green-bellied arach was spinning a red web on the ceiling.

"Spahder in the house!" She shouted. "Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck be gone!"

Ma ignored Shoog. "I know! Hold on a second."

She left and returned with a jar of clear, sky-colored liquid.

"That’s pa’s blue lightning!" Sal blinked her eyes, shocked. "He and Mossy only made a small batch this year. If he finds out we used it for. . ."

"What he don’ know won’t rile him. Sides, yer only gonna use a little." Ma handed Sal the jar.

The lasat girl unscrewed it and the potent vapors almost knocked her over. She dipped the clean towel in the jar and wiped it all over her hands. Then she wiped the studs. Shoog sat up and held her mid-section. Fairy-bats were flittering around in her belly.

"You ready? Sal held up the safety pin.

"It ain’ gonna hurt a lot is it?"

" Ashla, Shoog. All that whining and now you’re scared? Janey’s the biggest coward in these hills and she let me pierce her ears."

"I know but . ."

"It doesn’t hurt at all. It’s more like a little pinch than anything. Besides, I’m fast. Just close your eyes and hold your breath and it’ll all be over before you know it. Here, hold your growly-bear."

Shoog took the worn stuffed animal and pushed it against her face. Sally moved to her sister’s bed. She gripped her ear and stretched it thin over the potato. Ma steepled her hands in front of her mouth.

Sal stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and squinted. Her piercing hand hovered over her sister’s ear. "Okay Shoog, little pinch. One. . . two. . . THREE!"

She skewered her sister’s pinna with one punch and removed the tuber.

"That’s it. I’ll leave it in there and let it stretch the hole out a bit."

Shoog removed the bear from her face. "That’s it? I hardly felt that a’tall! Do the other one!"

"Hold your krauntauns. I’m wiping the pin."

Sally pierced Shoog’s other ear and pushed the studs through. Shoog ran to the mirror to admire her sister’s work. The earrings were beautiful, like scintillating dew drops touched by the sun. Ma brushed and curled her daughter’s thick, dark brown hair and dabbed a drop of tinted gloss on her lips. "Look up." She said as she applied two coats of mascara to her lashes. Sal tried to be helpful when she offered Shoog one of her too-small short skirts and a tiny top. Ma vetoed them the moment they exited the closet. She walked her daughter over to the dresser mirror and stood behind her.

"Wooo." Shoog leaned forward and studied the visage staring back at her. "I dun look half bad."

"You look a’might purty if yew ask me." Ma kissed her cheek. " Now rest up a spell. Thee guests should start arrivin’ by sunhigh. I’m gunna go pay yer aunt Daizee a call. Bring her some tack-biscuits and sweet-nettle tea. That baby inner is making her as sick as an anooba in a melon patch."

"Well it is an Orrelios." Sal said, her eyes downcast.

"Hesh-up. I don’t want none of that talk outta you ‘round Daizee, yew hear?"

"Yeah, I hear."

******

Sugar Trodd dreamed that the prince of Lasan had invited her to the Royal Palace. Naturally, he was infatuated with her at first sight. Never had he seen such a delicate mountain flower. He compared her eyes to the torch-fires of Izrothir , her lips to a fount of heady wine and her small breasts to a pair of decadent Aztecan chocolate truffles. He found himself mad with passion and he couldn’t help but beg her to be his wife. Shoog smiled in her slumber when he breathed into her ear and nuzzled her temple with his lips. She traced the prince’s handsome brow-ridges with her fingertips and put her hands on the back of his head. She drew him in close, touching her snub nose to his. They shared a life-breath and then connected in a kiss. . .

The sounds of a gathering crowd whisked the prince away into obscurity. Shoog woke with a snort. She jumped out of bed and drew back her curtain to look at a large gathering of women-lasats arranging food on a long plank table in front of the house. Some she recognized, like her aunts and cousins and friends, but some she didn’t. Did her cousins and friends invite friends of their own?

Wood in the brick fire pit burned hot, and the mouth-watering smell of roasting prongnose wafted in through her bedroom window. She closed the curtain with a swift pull.

"Karabast! That’s all fer me? All that food and all them people?" She knelt in front of the chest at the foot of her bed and frantically pulled clothes from it. Lil’ Speckle looked at her with sleepy-hen eyes, then, unfazed, drank from the water dish Shoog had provided her.

"There ain’t nothing in here worth wearing, cept mebbe this fancy sweaterdress. Uhhggh, No!" She threw it down. "It too hot outside fer that!"

She sat back down on her bed and agonized over her choices. Then,

"You know what? Ma and Sal went through a lot of trouble to make me feel good. Least I kin do is be ‘preesh-ative. That ol’ dress a mine ain’t so bad. Hells, nobody will recognize it from last year. I hope."

Shoog wriggled into her slip and tossed the old blue dress on. It was a little tighter and shorter than she remembered. Was it possible she did that much growing in one year? She buttoned it up.

She went to the mirror and combed her curls, then put on another dab of gloss and rubbed her lips together. Ma came into the room, a colorful box tucked under her arm.

"Oh, Sugar darlin’ that old dress won’t do. Not fer yer flowerin’!"

"It’s not a bad dress ma. An’ look, it fits me better this year!"

"I dunno," Sadie rubbed her furry chin. "What do yew think Daizee?"

Aunt Daizee’s purple-striped face peered into the room. She was a pretty lasat, pretty as a jogan, but a lack of sleep and constant morning sickness had hollowed her cheeks and darkened the sockets of her eyes.

"I reckon it’s okay. But I think you’d like what’s in the box better."

Shoog’s heart skipped a beat. She eyed the colorful package tucked under her mother’s arm and her mouth dropped open. She felt like a magnet drawn to metal.

"Happy Flowerin’ Day my darlin’." Ma handed Shoog the package. It was wrapped in pink foil paper and tied with a big white bow. Shoog whistled through her front teeth.

"That’s the nicest wrappin’ paper I’ve ever seen in my whole life! I don’ wanna rip it."

"Oh go ahead, rip it!" Sal said, coming into the room.

"No. It’s too purty to waste. I kin use it again." Shoog sat cross-legged on her bed with the box on top of her knees. She was dying to see what was inside.

After carefully removing the bow and paper she removed the box top and unfolded the dish towel containing her present. She held her hands to her mouth and gasped. Inside, was an elegant strapless dress the color of fresh-churned butter. Shoog lifted it out of the box. It had a scalloped front and was gathered at the waist. The opening in back, plunging to mid spine, was laced with delicate yellow ribbons.

"Great Bearded One, if this ain’t the purtiest dress I ever did see!" She held it up in front of her and twirled. "And strapless too! Ain’t this gonna make me look ‘fast’ ma?"

" Yer auntie says it’s an elegant dress. It ain’t meant t’ make yew look fast. Hit’s meant t’ make yew look like a lady."

"It’s gorgeous, Shoog." Sal said with a hint of jealousy.

*********

Shoog greeted her guests. They oohed and aaahed and told her to turn around. Great aunts pinched her cheeks and friends and cousins made big productions out of her new look. They ‘Oh my Godded’ and ‘You’re so luckyed’ her so much, she felt like a celebrity. When she slipped away for a second to get some pucker-fruit punch she looked into the throng of lasats and felt her face contort into a confused frown.

Where were all the males?

Every guest, except for the youngest cubs, were female.

Shoog saw her eldest sister Mae placing a bowl of rarrcot and swamp-plum salad on the table. She went up to her.

"Hey mama Mae."

" There she is! The belle of the ball. The most beautiful girl here. And to think, yew were a rough-and tumble little jack-boy the last time I saw yew."

"Aw, I’m still a jack-boy. I ain’t never gonna stop huntin’ and fishin’ wid pa, or stop wrasslin wid the fellers."

"Yew might wanna reconsider that last one." Mae said, wiping the rim of the bowl with a wet cloth.

"Uhm, speaking of fellers, where’s all th’ males at? I ain’t seen a peek of Jimbo or Jax or Muss or Puggles. Not even Mawsy. And there’s beer here, I know it!"

"I’m sure they’re around. Somewhere." Mae winked and tweaked Shoog’s chin. She turned at the sound of a grating female voice. "Oh, I see someone invited that ol’ loon-cootie Lottie Bingo. She’s prowbly thumping the Great Bearded One’s book, preachin’ about the sins of the flesh and fur." She frowned. "Bless her heart. Well, excuse me darlin,’ I have to find some more cutlery. I brought my wedding set of aurodium plate, great-Aunt Tilda and Winnie did too, but a lot more lasats than we anticipated turned up to see yew flower."

Shoog hugged her sister and skipped off. She joined her friends and kin on the grassy hill behind the barn and stood in a long line. They played malogi’-majlogo, a once-competitive game that was rumored to come from the fabled planet of Lirasan. Most historians and lasopoligists believed all lasats living on Lasan came via a human transport over three-thousand years ago, as no bones found in middens were any older. Lasats had to come from somewhere. Perhaps the legend of Lirasan wasn’t so far fetched as many once thought.

The girls clapped their hands loudly, calling out the name of the first girl in line. Cousin Hildi stepped out of line and performed a dance she had conjured up the night before. She flapped her arms like a killow and stood high on her toes and cartwheeled until he landed on her tail. Laughing, she skipped her way to the end of the line. Next was Sally. Her dance—though impressive— was as predictable as it was sensuous, and was hard to clap to. Other girls followed, each one with their own trademark dance style. Then came Shoog’s turn.

Pumped with adrenaline, she ran out in front of the gang of laughing girls and raised a ferocious scream so loud her younger cousins covered their sensitive ears. She crouched low and prowled and paced. She bared her fangs and popped her eyes. They burned a deep orange around their pinprick pupils. The girls went wild. They clapped in quintuple-beat, clap clap. . . clapclapclap. . . a warrish beat. Shoog knelt in the grass and shimmied her shoulders. She slapped the palms of her hands on the ground and whipped her head around then sprang from her crouch, eight feet into the air, landing in a pose reminiscent of that of a sprinter at a starting line. She stood, thrust out a bent leg and raised her face to the sky before letting out another scream. The girls were about to applaud the dance when the most blood-curdling roar they had ever heard split the air through the holler. Shoog stood up straight. A beaming smile covered her face. She knew that roar.

Coming up the rising path was a large troop of males, her father in the lead.

"Pa!" She lifted her dress and ran straight for the giant lasat, her companions not far behind. The eerie moan of traditional polished horn prong-pipes heralded the males’ entrance. The blowing of the pipes informed colonies of lasats that a clan leader was approaching. Even in the royal city they used wrought-ore versions of the ancient instruments whenever the King and Queen made an appearance.

Flanking pa were his sons. Rufus jr. and Zelbert. Muss and Naylor. Jax and Jimbo and Puggles. Even Trapper, who spent most of his life in solitude in the high mountains. As she got closer, Shoog saw Mossy, and also cousin Zeke and Bubba. A phalanx of other kin and family friends followed behind. Shoog leapt at her father who caught her in a hug then hoisted her up onto his shoulder. They marched through the crowd of women-folk and stood at attention in the yard. On the porch, pa’s well-fed anooba Gracie horrked and slobbered and ran her tongue over the jutting spade of a tooth in her lower jaw. She galloped up to Rufus and stood upright, putting her long-clawed paws on his chest. Mossy grabbed a beer from a washtub and cracked it open on the beastly creature’s tooth. The young boys in the crowd laughed.

The male lasats were dressed in their finest woodsmen-warrior garb, which included sleeveless, multipocketed jerkins and arm bracers with pouches. They wore gray prongnose-wool skilts—with clan colors and designs around the bottom— and leather codpieces and knife sheaths. Most bore two bandoliers that crisscrossed their chests and each male carried an impressive arsenal of weapons. Pa’s old rifle was slung across his back and two throwing axes hung at his hips. Whip-killow feathers wreathed his bony dome, and his face, already fearsome, was painted white, like a skull. There were males with shining daggers and lacquered bats. Males with falchions, slugthrowers and plasma spitters, pole-bows, maces and spears.

Each male was fearsome and striking, even little Puggles, whose painted face and shark-jawed visage made him look like a strangely formidable foe. The trio of smoke-screamer grenades in his bandolier also helped.

Shoog kicked Gracie’s paws off Rufus’s chest. " Don’tchu get my dress dirty y’ whip-tailed bitch. I’ll brain ye!"

A lasat in the back, pa’s friend Tabe, guffawed like a drunk at a circus.

"That thar is deffy-nit-ly yer pro-genny ol’ Roof! Shore as a tick loves a furry ass-crack."

"We is gonna have t’ get more beer." Ma whispered to Daizee.

The purple-striped female caressed the small bulge in her belly. "Um, or mebbe not. I’m sure some of them boys brang they’s own distillate. Hey!" She yelped. "Easy little one. Land’ a muddlin’, only five months old and she’s kickin’ like a cow!"

Shoog poked her pa’s snub nose and wiped the white paint on his jerkin. "Hey pa, why is yew fellers all fancied up an’ armed to thee teeth?"

Rufus tickled Shoog’s ear, like he did when she was small."I wuz unner thee impression they taught yew kids history in school!"

"They did! But all we loined about wuz thee portent ‘citified lasats’."

"Damn shame. Well Sugar, hits like this. Back in the day, b’fore miners and mines an’ banks and comp’ny stores, there wuz th’ Clans o’ Thee Forest. Some clans wuz small and sum clans wuz big. Our linny-age goes way back. There wuz Trodds what wuz picked to fight in thee barbarian wars."

"Oh yeah! I ‘member grampy saying somethin’ like that!"

"Anyway, prommy-nunt clan leaders wuz a’might fond of they’s kids. When a girl came of the age for broodin,’ her pa threw her a big party so young-jacks could come to show their talents and try they’s hands at wooin’.

"Hell, I ain’t gonna do no broodin, er, breedin! Not fer a long time!"

" Corse y’ ain’t! This wuz thee old days, ‘member?"

"Oh yeah. So why all the weapons?"

"Well, a Clan leader had to pertect his daughter frum jope-jacks and briggards, so he employeed his own personal army a’ kinfolk an’ frens t’ keep her safe."

" That’s purty wizard pa."

"What?"

"That’s neat."

Rufus lifted his daughter off his shoulder and set her on the ground in front of him. His face was stoic, cool and composed, but under the skin he was weeping. His hook-baiter, his lizard spooker, his fire-starter, was now a woman. Suddenly he was glad for all his faithful ‘warriors’. There were boys showing up at the party that he didn’t know. One thing was for sure. They wouldn’t want to know him if they messed with Shoog.

**********

Ma eventually broke down. From the moment she woke, she told herself that she wouldn’t cry today. She was certain her spirited and independent daughter would breeze through the ceremony without nary a sniffle or a tremor, but as the visitors crowded around the decorated stump and Rufus helped Shoog up on top of it, ma could tell her poor girl was nervous to the point of fainting. She looked so small, so vulnerable.

Pa pulled a dog-eared book out of one of his breast pockets, licked his thumb and turned the pages. The book, with its crackled parchment pages was over nine-hundred years old. It had been passed from clan patriarch to clan patriarch, and when the time came for Rufus to be bested in combat by one of his sons for title as clan leader—most likely Rufus jr.—he would pass it down as well.

Ma stood next to pa. To his other side was Shoog’s sister Hallie, the Trodd family medicine woman. She held a dipper of water with bits of maiden’s-foot fern floating in it.

Pa found the page he was looking for. He cleared his throat. He could speak old Illasano, but he was very much out of practice.

" Shrrwall mirol." He intoned. "Harrkg dasa, harrkg mojallan, miuuk ti, ti’as Sugar bilo nen dauhirra wahmerr."

(Honored guests. Beloved friends, beloved family, we today give our child-daughter Sugar to womanhood.)

" Ashla fuegolo malinta. (Ashla be near)

"Ashla fuegolo malinta!" Chanted the crowd.

" Umdayrr ti’as rrip ti’as pial." (Today she sheds her skin)

"Umdayrr ti’as comass a sharrgo!" (Today she feeds the fire!)

"Pil ti’as songerr naberskerr!" (May she be strong as a warrior.)

"Pil ti’as oovak mana." (May her womb be fruitful.)

Shoog rolled her eyes and blushed and the crowd burst out in laughter.

Jimbo parenthesized his mouth with his hands and shouted. "Dun git knocked up tonight!" Jax slapped his knee and brayed.

" Shet-up yew dumb-asses!" Shoog yelled back, stomping her foot. Pa cracked up. He took a deep breath. He had to regain his composure before continuing.

"C’mon Roof! Yew kin do it!" His brother Jethro cried.

"Ahem. . . "Pil ti’as rrrmaeso, kon hoorr’baerbo mah foshzam." (May she summon the wisdoms, the heart-knowing.)

"Chh lengg ti’as sorrvive." (As long as she walks the land.)

"Ashla glorrae." (Ashla blessed)

"Ashla glorrae." Everyone said, solemnly.

Ma was now sobbing. Daizee squeezed her shoulder.

"Well, I reckon that’s it fer the prayer." Pa said, closing the book and carefully putting it back in his pocket. Ma dabbed her streaming eyes with a handkerchief.

"Oh Rufus, that wuz beeyootiful. Absolutely beeyootiful."

Mossy came forward with a torch and set the stacked kindling wood in a pit in front of the stump on fire.

"Y’ ready Twig?" He asked Shoog.

"Ready as all ever be."

The girl-now woman reached out and took her beloved growly-bear from her father. She looked down at the crackling fire and tossed the toy in.

"Ti’a parrile a muart." (" The child is dead")

Hallie washed her sister’s hands with the fern-water.

The crowd cheered and ran forward. Many held dried snake skins in their hands which they threw on Shoog, symbolically shedding her of the remaining spirit of childhood.

"Time fer vittles y’all!’ Daizee clapped her hands and yelled. "This young’in in me is a’ chompin at thee rope!"

Everyone congratulated Shoog and ran to find a place at the main table. The prongnose was pulled out of the fire, as were fifty chookens, a pair of suckling kalgows and a haunch of beef. It wasn’t much meat, but there were plenty of side dishes brought by guests to be sampled.

Shoog watched her bear burn until nothing was left but a pair of melting button eyes. She sighed, jumped off the stump and joined the rest of the throng.

After supper, the shine came out, which meant roughhousing. A handful of guardsmen pledged to stay sober just in case the fun turned into full-blown fighting. Hallie came up to pa, a concerned look on her face.

"Don’t look now, pa. Bubba is head-sparrin’ wid uncle Bocephus. And a few other fellers."

A passel of lasat men—attended by woman with cold rags—rolled around on the ground, holding their bony craniums and groaning.

Rufus groaned as well. His hefty, good-natured nephew loved to smack skulls with other lasats, even when sober, but he often failed to think about the force behind his weight. In this county, he was reigning head-butt champion.

"Time t’ give fat-boy a spankin’. Rufus pounded his palm with his fist.

**********

The afternoon sped like a hooch-runner into the night.

Shoog excused herself from the crowd—and the boys in it who shoved to the front to ask her to dance—and found a place behind the hen-house where she could be alone. She had partaken of a few sips of snowberry wine and was feeling content and happy. Spark flies hovered beneath the branches of the old greenjacket in the yard and over the maize tassels in ma’s garden. Little cubs clambered about on the tire swing and bigger cubs climbed the tree itself, proving their bravery. She had to look twice to determine whose kids they were. It turned out they were Mae’s grandkids. She waved to them and they waved back with their sticky, cake-and-punch fingers. Puggles ambled over, a Lasan Blue Ribbon beer in his hand.

" Sum party, eh Shoog?" He drained the beer can and crushed it against his furry brow.

"That’s gonna hurt in the mornin.’Hey, how’d yew git that anyway? Yew know pa will tan yer tail if he see’s yew wif a hard drank."

"Beer ain’t a hard drank. Mossy said so."

"Ohh. If Mausee told you a turd wuz a turnip, wood yew bile it in water?"

"I reckon I woodnt."

The siblings sat in silence for a few seconds. The sounds of lasats laughing and singing and debating politics merged with the sweet melody of fiddle music. It was emanating from the barn, where lasats were dancing the night away. Some of the brawnier males took their jerkins off and performed frightening warrior dances. Everyone hooped and hollered and begged for more. Most of the males charged with ‘policing the crowd’ were asleep on the lawn or under the table, their drained jars still clasped in their hands.

"Sorry bout yer growly bear." Puggles looked up at his sister with large honest eyes. "Why didn’t yew pick something else fer the far?"

Shoog smiled at her brother and squeezed his hand. "Well, thee whole point of thee ceremony was fer me to give up m’ childhood. It needed to be a might parful symbol, something sad an’ a lil’ painful, because honestly Puggles, growin’ up hain’t all what it’s cracked up to be."

" Yew ain’t happy bout bee’in a woman-lasat?"

Shoog took another sip of her wine. "In one way, yeah, I s’pose so. I have more say in things now. But in another . . . look what I’ll be missin.’"

She pointed to the cubs in the tree, carrying on like they hadn’t a care in the world. Puggles chhuhhed.

"Beein’ a growed up means more ‘sponsibility, but yew ain’t never gotta give up on fun. That prayer pa said, hits a million-years old. It ain’t meant t’ be follered zactly the way he said it."

"Ye think so?"

"Well, dats whut I think! Shit, ahs’ll never let a-dulthood turn me into a borin’ stiff!"

Shoog got out of her chair and gave her little brother a hug. "Yew is smarter than yew give yerself credit fer."

She smiled sweetly. Then she punched him in the stomach.

"Owwww!! What’s that fer?"

"That’s fer them farworks you sent up. Honestly Puggles, Booger? You spelt my name Booger?"

Puggles gripped his belly. "Errybody else thunk is wuz funny!"

"Yeah I bet they did!" She pulled his sparse beard. He yanked her hair. They started to wrestle.

Ma and pa stood at a distance. " Yew see that Sadie? Sum things never change."

"I swear to the Bogan, ifffen she gits that dress mussed up, I’ll snatch her head bald."

Rufus turned Sadie toward him and embraced her. A devilish smile split his face.

"Why Rufus, what’s gotten into yew?"

" I wuz jus’ thinkin,’ How’s about we talk more about that strapless dress you is plannin’ to buy?"

-Finito-

#lasat #my characters #writing practice

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