Raiha

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Someday to be a breaker of men's hearts everywhere... Alas. But otherwise I'm sure she'll grow up to be as sweet and purty as her mum. And hopefully as sarcastic and witty as me.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Chaos']A display of strength works just as well, if not better. Tell me, which would frighten you more, a man sitting next to his sleeping wife, or the asshole running around shooting ki blasts and choking everyone else in headlocks? XD[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well we're assuming that the guys running around shooting stuff and choking stuff are just overcompensating for the fact that they can't get their power levels over 2000. Whereas the guy guarding his wife has nothing to prove because he's already proved himself. Sucker. I'm more frightened by the assassin that walks into your bedroom and slits your throat than the gang banger who postures big on the street then gets cut off from his cholos and wets his pants when it turns out you're armed.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well that's a way to know real Raiha from fake Raiha. A real Raiha would have allergies up the yin yang to all those flowers too... But that's it for pending requests. So if anyone has any more, I'm taking them now. So nice to be caught up.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]So every girl needs a little red dress right? Granted this wasn't something I picked out for myself, this is something my friend picked and said 'get this for the Casino Royale formal on Friday.' So I did. Go me. Of course I didn't get any pictures from the party because everyone was blind by 9:30 anyway except me and perhaps the only other asian there. Wohoo.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Aaah, the 'taku Mart. My favorite bodega. The place to pick up any last minute items I'd forgotten for dinner. Like minute rice, or tomato sauce, or ice cream, or a case of soda. Tonight it was tomato sauce. Can't make spanish rice without it. I set the can at the register as I pulled a dollar out of my pocketbook, noticing the sun nearly gone from the sky. James leaned over the counter and gave me a characteristically paternal smile.[/i] "Going home after this?" "Yessir. Wouldn't be caught dead out there after dark." "Smart girl. My wife and kids won't do it either. You be careful now." Thanks James!" [i]I snatched up the bag and ran for the door, hurrying to my car and locking it as soon as I was inside. Once I parked outside the apartment, I climbed the concrete steps quickly, turning the lock behind the front door immediately. A look around revealed that while my brother wasn't home, he had in fact remembered to do the breakfast dishes. I heaved a sigh, relieved to be home and safely indoors after a long day. Absentmindedly, I set down the can of sauce on the kitchen counter and put my purse in my bedroom. A quick shower and a fresh change of clothes later, I stood at the stove, browning some lean hamburger meat, a cup of minute rice and a rack of spices ready and waiting. I kept one ear towards the door, hoping my brother would come through it at any second, and I could know that he was safely home from whatever it was that he did when he wasn't here. As the rice simmered on the counter I sent through the bills and balanced the checkbook. Nothing we couldn't safely pay. Once nice thing about never being home is that the gas and electricity and water would reflect that. I wrote a couple checks, endorsed the one from work, and set things down on the rack by the front door. Then I turned back to the stove and was just stirring it once more when the phone gave a sharp blast.[/i] "Hello? Jae!?" "Hey! Raiha! Can you pick me up from the corner of Smith and 17th? It looks like something's happening on 15th. I don't want to be there for it." "What? Some kinda fucking cholo convention?" "You know it. Southsiders getting uppity again with another bunch of- Oh shit can you hurry?" "Yeah, I'll be right there." [i]I turned off the stove and grabbed my jacket against the quickly cooling night. My pants were nondescript, and I made sure I wasn't wearing red or blue at all times. My brother was pretty helpful on telling me what to avoid and what places were hot. But he still wasn't home. I scribbled a note and taped it to the fridge, knowing he'd be heading right for the sodas and would hopefully reach it first. Outside I could smell burning marijuana, hear the yelling of babies and adults alike. Avoiding the looks of kids skateboarding up and down the railings nearby, I headed for my car and drove around the speed limit the six blocks to where Jae was waiting. Several cops passed me as I drove through the residential area, and I kept my speed, pulling over as Jae flagged me down. She slid into the passenger seat, looking completely shapeless in the trench coat she'd tied loosely around her waist.[/i] "Go back the way you came. I think they're going to turn on their sirens right about.... ...now." [i]The scream of alarms reached our ears and I made a U-turn as quickly as was safe, zooming towards hearth and home where my brother hopefully was and things were a helluva lot quieter. Jae leaned back in the seat, her seatbelt across her lap. Just as we were about to turn the corner onto the street I'd been living on for years, a cop pulled up behind us and blinked his lights once. I immediately pulled over and steeled myself. Jae quickly sat up and pulled her hood down, pulling out my registration from the glove box as I fished in my pocket for my ID. The officer swaggered up to my open window and I looked up at the smirking face of someone a few years older than me, the glint of his badge looking somewhat tarnished to me.[/i] "Do you know how fast you were going girl?" "I believe I was going 25 officer." "I have you at 45. That's not safe. Speed limit's 25." [i]Oh shit.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Happy 25th to the Boys. I celebrate every other year, give or take. This year it was a huge letdown. My mom sent me an IM the day before and someone called me at 2 am. I donated blood at 9:45 a.m. and took a final at 11 a.m. But then a friend called me at 4 p.m. and told me to get dressed in a nice skirt and blouse as he was taking me to dinner in Newport Beach. I had no idea.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]I remember it all too well. I was sitting in the kitchen, wearing black leather bellbottoms with a purple tank top, waiting for the kettle to boil, while Raiha sat nearby, listening to the morning news and swearing at the radio occasionally. Then, just as the kettle began to whistle, it happened. A crack of lightning and a rumble of thunder overhead, so close the teacups rattled. Then I saw her stand, sway slightly on her feet and I ran to catch her, afraid she was going to faint.[/i] ?Raiha! Are you alright?? ?Wha...? Everything?s fine Crystia. I?ll just go make us some tea. Tea?s so tasty.? ?Uh, right. Of course it is.? [i]I let her go to the counter and pour, watching to make sure there were no mild mishaps involving boiling water. She walked over, with an uncharacteristic smile on her face, and set down the tea. I noticed both were garnished with sprigs of fresh mint and blinked a few times. Raiha sat down across from me and changed the radio to an easy listening station, the sounds of Barry Manilow filling the small space of the breakfast nook. I nearly dropped my teacup and stared at Raiha for a few minutes, watching as she sipped tea with her pinky in the air. Half an hour later, I began to suspect the worst when Raiha emerged from her room ready to go shopping in an outfit of fluorescent pink. I didn?t even know she owned anything pink. Feeling a sinking feeling in my stomach, I watched her drive to the mall with none of her usual swearing, screaming, road rage, or bird flipping. Actually, I hadn?t heard her utter a single obscenity since the thunder. Curiouser and...curiouser...and then she parked after passing up several nice spots so old ladies could take them. As we walked through the mall, she had a kind word for everybody, smiling sweetly at every passerby.[/i] ?Hi Beth, how?s Darren? Everything?s fine? That?s wonderful!? ?Er, yes. Glad to see you Raiha.? [i]It wasn?t that I doubted her sincerity. I mean she looked like she believed every word, but I?d never known her to be like that before. Sure she had her moments, just like everyone but this was totally insane. It wasn?t until Josh tripped over Raiha?s toes as he walked by that we even realized something was wrong. Instead of giving him a death glare, she quickly apologized for the inconvenience as profusely as anything I?d ever heard. He stared at her for just a moment, letting his eyes go out of focus, then he pointed a finger at Raiha and shouted a single, incomprehensible word. Then two more. Right in the middle of the food court.[/i] ?SHOW YOURSELF!? [i]Raiha?s eyes rolled in the back of her head and everyone leapt back a foot. Then they came back and a slow, lazy smile spread over her face and she spoke in a small, high sweet voice, utterly unlike her usual darker tones.[/i] ?Whatever is the matter Josh? Don?t you like the new me?? ?You?re not Raiha! The real Raiha would?ve dumped her drink down my shirt for that!? [i]The un-Raiha giggled cutely.[/i] ?So you noticed. I?m afraid I rather like this body. I think I?ll keep it. Better get used to me being so sweet. I just can?t help myself you know.? [i]Josh?s face blanched visibly and nearby Erica dropped her shopping bag on Gavin?s foot. ......... Twenty-eight days later everything had gone completely insane. Raiha had turned her relatively conservative garden into a jungle of lilacs, marigolds, lavender, and foxgloves. Everything she touched seemed to burst into bloom, trees suddenly bore fruit after years of sullen leaves. A field of dead grass turned overnight into a huge field of gladiolas. And everyone seemed to love it. Except Desbreko. Not that I blamed him though. Otaku City?s image was slowly being ruined. And I know nobody said it, but everyone missed the Raiha that would?ve put on her cat suit and trampled them for the slightest insult. Eventually things became too much to bear when the Square was transformed from a place for angsty misunderstood teenagers to grandstand into Central Park. Filled with a rage almost too great to bear, Desbreko banned Raiha almost immediately after the ribbon was cut, evacuated most of the city by Administrative Order Number 62, and launched Project Zero. End of Otaku City.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Revelation'][size=1][color=#8B008B] It's odd though, a few days ago I was talking to Mike about 'The Boondock Saints' too. Funny how people's minds work.[/size][/color][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Or perhaps the prayer of Black Lagoon from the Loveless family. Raiha would say that just to be a bitch. And so would Erica.....you know how it goes. [center][i]"Una bendicion por las vivos" [/i] "Mercy for the living. A bouquet of flowers for the dead, With a sword of justice, A punishment of death for the wicked, Like this we arrive at the altar of the saints. But we are not joining the line of the saints."[/center][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]?Wha-?? [i]Gavin looked baffled and I chortled before indicating with my head down to the garden, the smell of cooking food rising up into the air. Gavin?s nose twitched and he hurtled out the open window, my foresight into opening it suddenly coming in very handy. Billy stood up as well, stretching a little and looking down at his clean shirt and pants.[/i] ?Why am I dressed like this?? ?Your other clothes were a disaster. And I had to cut some of them off of you.? ?So you...?? ?We?ll talk about it later. Right now I?m sure you?re hungry and Neil?s just finished some of the steaks.? ?Steak? Steak!? [i]He zoomed out the window as well and I casually floated down to the garden, watching the men group around the table, falling on the food like a plague of locusts. I won?t pretend I understood just why Saiya-jins were always so hungry. My metabolism managed just fine on enough food for a normal human, and I was only half Saiya-jin. But you?d think there would be some carryover. Oh well. Maybe they were just male. And given that they were going to be using up a lot of energy soon, I guess it made sense for them to eat like they were about to be raptured before dark. I patiently began to work out the kernels from a roasted ear of corn, painstakingly peeling out each one, when I could?ve easily just dug right in otherwise. It wasn?t like I was in any rush. I?d already saved myself two kebabs and the vegetables were never in danger of running out anyway. Kiwi picked through her roasted vegetables happily, Crystia obligingly mashing up some of them so she could just use her hands and save herself from the trouble of chewing. As usual, nobody talked much. Sevara had woken up and drifted over to the table to help herself, eating with more than her usual appetite. Billy looked none the worse for wear and while I eyed his aura in the corner of my eye, I noticed that his ki looked just about normal. Neil and Sikal were currently locked in a deadly eating contest with Gavin and Andrew, the goal apparently to see who could stack twenty skewers first. I patiently looked in the other direction, heaving a sigh while I watched bats pass through my shield harmlessly, chasing mosquitoes with a vengeance, saving me the trouble of zapping them out of midair myself. Kiwi gurgled to herself happily, tipping her sippy cup full of watered down white grape juice over the side of her tray, with Crystia catching it inches before it hit the floor. I leaned back, savoring the charbroiled flavor of the food, closing my eyes for just a moment.[/i] ?Honey...Honey wake up.? ?Mmm, wha?? [i]I opened my eyes and found Gavin standing over me in a haze of dark brown hair and concerned eyes. A quick reconnaissance revealed that I was lying down on one of the deck chairs, and the position of the moon told me it was about 2 a.m. I yawned once and smiled up at my husband lazily. The shield was still humming quietly in the background of my hearing and I could hear Billy and Sikal arguing about something manly and stupid. Probably sports.[/i] ?You fell asleep at dinner, so I laid you down out here. You looked comfortable, even sitting upright.? ?Guess I wore myself out worrying about the family, even if nobody noticed. I should stop doing that sometime. Did people do the dishes?? ?Don?t worry about that. Actually don?t worry about anything. It?s all fine.? [i]He seemed to believe it, so I willed myself to relax, feeling like I had been doused in warm water. Gavin sat down next to me, the muscles in his arms flexing, perhaps involuntarily. After a meal, the men went into either protection mode or show off mode. Gavin appeared to be in the former, while every other male in the house was busily engaged in the later. Nothing else to note, besides Sevara?s aura hovering inside somewhere, with Crystia and Kiwi curled up in front of the lilac bushes.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]To clear that up, as Internet often obscures, I wasn't being snide. I was being sad. As in I was completely drunk then and posting while drunk, as I've discovered is an embarrassment. Sorry about that, but no, I wasn't being snide. I was being melodramatic as only someone intoxicated can be.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Sabrina'][FONT="Tahoma"]The topic would have to be the same/similar, for example a variant would look like this: [B]Vote for neuvoxraiha [/B] I used your older user name since length wise it's close to the previous one. So I hope that clears up what type of variant it would have to be. :catgirl: It still has to have the same theme of why the other person should win.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well when you put it THAT way. Maybe. I suppose. I mean I won't die or anything but ...*snivel* It's just not the same.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well, not to sound NEEDY or anything, but I'd feel very sad if I'd just finished reading a poem that didn't refer to me in all my glory once. Especially since I just finished [sort of] tossing off my opponent with such glee and glowing praise in my own entry.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]While June 17th doesn't LOOK far away... When I think of the horror of transferring all the utilities and dealing with the nonsense over the fridge, I get chills. Then there's the part where they've been helping themselves to my water bottles one at a time over the space of several days. Of course I just nicked a handful of their candy so it's a trade off. But just now he came to my room with the rent for this month and the utilities and apologized for being all dramatic this morning. But he still insisted that he thought my friend was shady. And I quote: "I just saw him leaving the apartment looking all shady and **** so I figured it was him. Bet you it is." SHADY?! Jesus who is he to judge? He's a messed up stoner asian skater with no job and a girlfriend that works at Wal Mart.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Shy'][size=1]I'm totally not involved in this! I assumed that Raiha was more in the know than I was when she had Gustave propose in her post.[/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Good god. I assumed you were keeping me in the loop so we'd avoid unnecessary embarrassments like this.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium] So at the very least it may need to be majorly edited.[/font] :animestun[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Oh good lord people. SHY! EXPLAIN YOURSELF! I feel obliged to point out that this was all Shy's doing. As in he told me to do this.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]The good news is that the only other room mate in the townhouse is his LIVE IN girlfriend. She's been nagging him into confronting me about having friends over and for some reason they think I can't hear them talking about me when they're downstairs and I'm upstairs. But other than that I could care less if they sat in the dark all year long. Without gas or running water.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]So I wake up, I get out of bed, I roll myself to my computer and stagger into the chair. Same as every morning. But then something went dreadfully wrong downstairs when my room mate got up unreasonably early just to write me a little note that accused me of inviting over friends that steal his things. Apparently things only disappear when I have friends over. And he got up out of bed to tell me so at 7:30 in the morning. As luck would have it, [b]he's missing $500 dollars worth of things and I am the assumed culprit.[/b] I think it's due mostly to his own incompetence and incapability of locking the doors at night or making sure the garage door is shut. However he does not cater to this view and thinks that I aid and abet thieves. Now think about this logically. What was missing was a PS3 controller, Need for Speed, Rainbow Six, and other mindless FPS games that didn't belong to him apparently. So I went to my friend's today to look through his things while he wasn't there and found nothing that didn't belong to him besides the books I lent him when he was over recently. So I told my room mate today that he was completely wrong to accuse my friends and me falsely but my room mate hit the roof and then [b]told me I couldn't have anyone over anymore.[/b] At that point I was entertaining a very complicated fantasy that involved his death and the death of his annoying whining girlfriend. So when I move out in the middle of June, do I shut off all the utilities without telling them and cancel broadband and the cable service? And take the fridge that I bought with my OWN money before moving in...? I call this the [b]Screw you jerkoff[/b] solution. OR Do I be an adult and kindly tell him that he has no business dictating who I have over in the part of the apartment I pay rent for? I call this the [b]**** right off[/b] solution. I haven't really decided yet what to do outside of involving my land lady, who should lend an air of adulthood and actual maturity to the situation. Of course she might be able to do nothing, but I figure she'll be with me on the refrigerator situation. After all, it's not theirs but I let them use it out of the goodness of my heart. Oh temptations...[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Don't panic, this is not a Great Teacher Onizuka request for anything remotely.......yeah. No. Actually I'm looking for graphics for the Grand Theft Otaku story currently being told in the Anthology thread. The general feel of the story is gritty, aiming for realism while at the same time set in a horrible depressed future in Otaku City after a massive financial collapse and so on and so forth. So I'm looking for art to match the ghetto, angry feeling of the story. Be it tagging, or something equally hardcore, I'd be very much interested. Please help.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I suppose now isn't the time to tell you all the me and Shy's epic meeting also took place at Disneyland. He was wearing suspenders and a tweed shirt and knickers because he was manning [so to speak] the Winnie The Pooh ride. And then there's Anime Expo where I met Panda and her charming husband and Adam..... ..... But as far as a tour bus goes. I don't know if you've ever spent much time on one but five hours in you will officially be going absolutely insane. I recommend megabus. One dollar from place to place. Everyone meet at Union Station in Los Angeles and you can all be shot in a drive by in the taxi on the way to Aneheim.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[LEFT][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][b]W[/b]here are you going? [b]H[/b]ow dare you try to leave. [b]Y[/b]ou get back here right now and vote for Allamorph. [b]M[/b]y sources say simply he's the best. [b]Y[/b]ou just can't begin to know his greatness. [b]O[/b]bviously he is far superior to the competition. [b]P[/b]erfectly charming in every possible way. [b]P[/b]utting down the opposition without breaking a sweat. [b]O[/b]pening windows into the unknown with remarkable dexterity. [b]N[/b]aturally charming the masses with his talents. [b]E[/b]ven though I'd love to win. [b]N[/b]obody could seriously compare me favorably to him. [b]T[/b]hat would be absolutely ridiculous. [b]S[/b]houldn't you save your vote for the more deserving? [b]H[/b]ow on Earth do you expect me to succeed? [b]O[/b]ther than by killing him in his sleep with an axe. [b]U[/b]nderstand though that murder would cheating. [b]L[/b]eaving that idea aside, [b]D[/b]on't expect a victory from me any time soon. [b]W[/b]hatever. [b]I[/b] can't possibly be upset about all this. [b]N[/b]obody comes close to him anyway.[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]How did they forget? Amnesia dust! CLEARLY! Actually that's a good question...[/FONT][/COLOR]

[RIGHT][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"][B]Farewell[/B][/FONT][/SIZE] [IMG]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest/maceyellen-chronicle.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest/marieevangeline-chronicle.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest/gustave-avatar.gif[/IMG][/RIGHT] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][LEFT][i]A fire burned in the hearth and Macey Ellen reached for the stack of research and notes that she and her sibling had conducted on Gadget. Brushing away a few tears irritably she threw the lot into the fire, one bundle at a time. The flames licked up her work, work that had taken years, in just a few moments. Her research disappearing, becoming nothing more than a few ashes swirling up the chimney. Eva sat close by, poking up the fire every now and then.[/i] "So you're going to get rid of all of it then? Even those?" [i]Macey nodded with a determined look on her face, reaching for the last pile of papers. The original ones that had made Gadget's transformation possible rested in her hands. For a moment she looked down at them, feeling a certain wistfulness, then her expression hardened and she hurled them into the fireplace.[/i] "Nobody will ever be able to duplicate this. Nobody will ever sacrifice orphans on the altar of silence with my research." "Are you going to give up on it entirely?" "In this country yes. I can't stomach the thought of going through this again. Gadget deserved far better" [i]For awhile the only sound was the fire crackling. Eva nodded slowly, her face distorted in the firelight, while Macey looked down at her handkerchief, twisted in her fingers. Eva looked like she was going to say something, then shook her head and looked into the fire instead, seeing the entire long bloody month written in it.[/i] [i][b]Six months later.[/b] Macey sat in the orchard, underneath the peach trees that had begun putting out small pink speckled blossoms in the gentle spring weather. Her horse stood close by, his head dropped and his nose in a patch of freshly blooming clover. An invitation from Gustave for dinner lay loosely clasped in her hand, her head tossed back carelessly over the tree trunk, her hair down around her shoulders. Her father's return to the mansion had caused so much insanity, she was obliged to leave even her own room to find some peace and quiet. Just as she was dozing off in the warm midday sun, the sound of her horse whinnying a greeting woke her up, the dull thud of hoofbeats obliging her to stand up. Eva in a smart traveling dress appeared, the silver peplum of her suit complimenting the color of her hair, which had changed yet again. Macey brushed the leaves and twigs from the back of her skirt and lifted a hand in greeting.[/i] "So you're off then? Studying Chimaeras abroad. Going to unknown distant lands?" "Absolutely. I came to see you before I went to the station. That and I wanted to know if you were going to come with me to the station. Since Mel tells me you're leaving to see Gustave tonight." [i]Macey grinned ruefully. Was nothing sacred? She mounted up and the twins rode out of the orchard, Gustave's note folded up in Macey's pocket, while the flowers bloomed furiously on every tree. The two rode down the mountain, perhaps for the last time, the creak of their leather sidesaddles the only breaks in the long silences. There wasn't much they could say to each other for now. Words would've ruined it all anyway. At the station, Eva and Macey squeezed each other's hands. Hugged one another. And then Eva stepped onto the train and was gone. All the way back to the mansion, leading Eva's riderless horse behind, Macey wept. At dinner Gustsave watched Macey carefully. Even if it had been six months, some wounds took longer to heal than others, and after all, there had been so much to heal from.[/i] "How are things in Rosengard now?" "Insane. Absolutely dreadful. The servants are rushing around constantly, obliging most of us to find our own meals. And Father's just been reinstalled as the lord of the manor and the head of the company again. You simply can't imagine the mountain of paperwork that's poured in on top of our heads." "I have a rough idea. Ever tried to import six Chimaeras through security when the legal limit is normally two?" "Don't you have to sign some form stating their purpose and listing their pedigree back to the sixth generation?" "Something like that." [i]Gustave swirled the exquisite white dessert wine in his glass casually, even though it had already aerated for hours while the two lingered over sorbet in ginger ale. It always ended up this way. Both discussing some complicated subject like alchemy in Chimaeras and how it affects their performance, or the musical developments from various nations. Gustave set down his glass and looked at Macey with a look of excited expectancy.[/i] "Let's take an airship to Al Ahmar. We can ride camels and wear bed sheets in public." [i]A thousand thoughts rushed into her mind all at once. The very concept of leaving the confines of Czenoble for a place further than Anova was a totally alien idea to her. Leonheart laughing with her at his birthday party, after what felt like years. Vincent whirling her through the steps of a waltz flawlessly. Eva shaking her head when Macey took off her wedding band. Gadget holding her hand at the races just before he disappeared. Racing Chimaeras with Gustave through the forest in Anova. Currying Lazarus in the stables while Gustave lazed around on the lawn. Her rampant fear of heights. Seeing her father board an airship with her mother while she was still alive. Macey smiled at him, and picked up her wineglass, making a vain attempt to appear coy.[/i] "I'll have to think about it."[/LEFT][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="times new roman"]Look! Someone posted! TWICE! EVERYONE CELEBRATE! GO WILD! OH GOD![/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]So, I'll be posting today, like now. Because I figure if I get it out of the way I can go back to enjoying my mindless grinding myself retarded on this rpg I'm obsessed with at the moment. For my post there will be a time jump, so I'm telling you all now to eliminate confusion. Six months in the future to be precise. And presumeably Gustave and Macey's relationship has been going very well, but there hasn't been anything lasting and definitive about it all. So yes. Six months. Don't forget. I'll even make a note in my post but it might be lost in all the glorious writing.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i] Adrienne came through the front door, to the greetings of Andras and a pleasant 'hello' from Eiyaga, who was looking her normal self again. Granted, Adrienne had no idea what she normally looked like, but she'd done something with the towel that made her look like she was wearing a toga. And thus, totally decent, she stood up to stand at the kitchen counter, covered with bags. And by covered, perhaps swamped would be a more fitting and descriptive term.[/i] "You never do anything small, do you?" "Never! Besides, you needed new clothes and I needed more art supplies." "It's noo that I'm not grateful for you doing this for me, but I seem to recall only being able to wear one outfit at a time." [i]The female zodiac waved her hand, making some noise that sounded remarkably like 'stuff and nonsense' wrapped up in a nonverbal sound. Eiyaga carefully unwrapped several bags of clothing, finding a plethora of black outfits that seemed to her almost macabre. She held up a shirt that looked mildly shredded, as if it had been attacked by a lecherous old man wielding a razor blade and suffering from Parkinson's disease. Andras looked over from the refrigerator.[/i] "I like it. Very vampire." "I don't think that's quite the message I'd want to be sending here. My business is more making people breathe again, not hack out their last unloved and unmourned through a ruined punctured neck." "Oh psh, it'll be fine. They'll go with the jeans." [i]Which were, of course, black. Eiyaga gave Adrienne what she hoped was a good smile. It wasn't that she was ungrateful at all, in fact she was pleased in spite of herself. But did she really appear this emo to the outside world? Maybe it was the eye. It had to be the eye. Excusing herself, she took the clothes that she would feel the most comfortable in and headed for the bathroom, ripping off the tags as she went. Standing in front of the mirror, feeling slightly confused, Eiyaga looked at herself. She hadn't worn anything but that same tank top and ratty jeans cutoff's for so long, it was disconcerting to see herself in a designer top and Paris Blue jeans. Not that she didn't like the look, but part of her was still confused. Perhaps she'd get used to it. Sighing just a little, she pulled a wisp of her hair over her ruined eye and did the rest up with the hair clips Adrienne had also bought, fluffing up the edges with her fingertips, feeling almost foolish. Thus attired, she walked back into the kitchen, blushing profusely and feeling out of place.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]