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This is going to be one of those crack threads that you can post anything in.

Well, not anything.

FANFICTION

based on the characters in the roleplay. :3

Christmas 2011: Got any Christmas-themed fanfiction ladies and gents? Post them here! :3

Rules?

1) Please use separate posts for each story! biggrin Unless it's like a related set of short little blurbs or something. >.>

2) Please give a title and the pairing at the beginning of the story! Unless the pairing is supposed to be a secret. razz

3) I suppose you could go graphic, but it's not suggested. >.> If you do though, post a warning before the story begins!

4) You can do chapters. Just make the chapters clear, and don't start anything you can't finish. <3

Parties Suck—MizoxGen

Mizo sat very quietly on the couch next to the fire. He did not much like parties. He always felt so awkward at them, but Gen had really wanted to go. It wouldn’t be fair for her if he just skipped out. Still, he wished that he could at least talk to somebody. This sucked.

Mizo was in the process of quantifying just how much sitting alone sucked when something fell over his face and blocked his vision. All he could see was a dull red. Immediately he let out a cry of surprise, only to then hear a familiar giggle.

“It’s a Santa hat, silly!”

“Gen?” Mizo pushed the fluffy brim of the hat back to see his purple-haired companion standing in front of him. In her hands were two white mugs with a swirly, red decoration around the rim. A bit of steam curled off of the top, and a candy cane was hooked onto each cup.

“Duh! Who else would it be? I got us hot cocoa! It’s great. It’s got marshmallows and everything! Here.” Gen handed Mizo his drink as she sat down across from him. It was a bit hot to the touch. Mizo wondered if Gen had had a cup already. At the very least, she must have had some extra candy. She was extraordinarily hyper.

“Thank you.” He blew gently into the cup before taking a sip. Gen gulped hers, as she was apparently impervious to burns. It was a bit too sweet for his tastes, but Gen had gotten it for him and he would drink it all.

“Are you having fun?” Gen’s voice was worried this time. Hearing her worry always made him want to fix it.

“Yeah. The fire’s nice and so is the cocoa.” Those things weren’t lies, so he felt comfortable saying them. His words brought the smile back to her face. Her smile was infectious, and he could feel his own lips turning into a small grin. She placed her cocoa on a small table next to her chair and reached over to grab his hand. He didn’t know why she suddenly did that, but he wouldn’t complain. Her hand was small and soft. His cheeks reddened almost instantly. Mizo hated when they did that. Still, they could not possibly ruin how nice this moment was.

“Merry Christmas, Gen.”

“Merry Christmas, Mizo.”

400 Horsepower Open Sleigh—PrimrosexRen

Primrose was approximately one hour late to the party and was quite possibly in the process of freezing to death. If there was one thing that bothered her about being armless, it as was the fact that she could not drive. Normally she could get a ride, but Hana canceled on her at the last minute. Something about how Ezy’s sister would flip if she showed up. She knew that she should have just asked Lucia.

Freezing as she stubbornly trudged her way along the sidewalk, she muttered a series of very unladylike curses. Midway through her cursing, a car’s headlights illuminated her figure. Her shadow seemed to stretch for miles. The car then pulled to a stop next to her.

Primrose paused and eyed the car suspiciously. Stranger danger time? She thought that that only happened in after school specials. The window then rolled down to reveal Ren. He wasn’t a stranger. He was actually in her science class, though they hadn’t talked to each other very much before. “Going to my brother’s party?” She nodded. “Climb on in.” He jerked his head to welcome her to his car.

Primrose blinked and stared at the door. Awkward. Ren didn’t say anything, but seemed slightly embarrassed. He leaned over and pushed the door open. Primrose climbed over into the car. A slightly blush fell to her face as Ren leaned over and buckled her up. Well, the law did say that the seatbelt had to be fastened.

She watched him as they drove. He had a handsome face, but she wondered why he let his hair grow so long in front of his eye. He didn’t seem like the emo-kid type. Thinking on it, his brother did the same thing. Ah well. Who was she to judge? Really, all she cared about was that he was nice enough to drive her to the party.

When they arrived, he climbed out of the car and walked around to her side. He unbuckled her and lifted her out. “Thank you,” she chimed.

“It’s nothing. Do you have a ride back?”

“Yeah. Lucia.” It was presumptuous, but they were best friends. She trusted her.

Lucia got drunk. Primrose knew when she saw her friend dancing, or rather, stumbling, later on in the evening.

Immediately she sought out Ren. It seemed rude, but he’d driven her there. There was a chance that he would drive her back.

She found him outside, in the quiet, on a bench.

“Ren?”

He looked up, startled slightly, and half smiled at her. “Lucia’s drunk,” he stated simply. “I’ll dive you home later.”

Primrose smiled and thanked him before standing awkwardly in front of him. “Ah, mind if I sit here too?”

“Sure you won’t get too cold?” Snow flurries were starting to fall.

“It’s not like my fingers’ll freeze off.”

Ren paused for a second in disbelief before bursting out into laughter. Primrose took that as an okay to sit down. That small joke seemed to have taken away his curt attitude.

The rest of that night, from Christmas Eve to Christmas morning, they talked.

It was, in a strange way, very beautiful.

Family—PhixSandrin

There was a Christmas party for the juniors and seniors on Christmas Eve. Phi, being a freshman was not invited. Not that it mattered. She didn’t want to go. Her mom wouldn’t have let her go anyway.

Phi was supposed to be studying. She was always supposed to be studying. It was Christmas Eve though, and Phi refused to put up with that. Not tonight. So, after sneaking out, she went to the one place that she knew would take her one.

Sandrin’s house was small. Only he and his mom lived there. Lately, however, Phi was spending more and more time there as well. Sahara didn’t seem to mind. She always fed Phi, and hugged her, and asked her how she’d been, and congratulated her on every record-high test score she’d been forced to achieve. Phi very rarely called her anything other than Mom lately. Sandrin seemed to be adapting her her constant presence too. Which was good, really, because fending off his random attacks had been tiring.

When she rang the doorbell, Sahara opened it with a soft smile and welcomed her in. Sandrin loomed in the back and didn’t bother her very much.

Dinner was eaten, or, in Sandrin’s case, devoured. Dessert was delicious. Christmas music was lasted throughout the house. Candy canes were munched on. It was almost midnight when the trio settled on the couch for cocoa. Sahara surprised Phi with a small present. It was only a journal, but it was somehow very perfect.

When Sahara took their cups and left to wash them, Sandrin directly addressed Phi for the first time.

“Close your eyes.”

Phi raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but, trusting him not to do something mean on Christmas, she obeyed.

A weight settled into her lap.

“Open.”

She did. It was a small box, plain and unwrapped. Midly puzzled, she opened it. Inside the box was a silver chain connected to a small silver key. Her eyes widened.

“For me?”

“Duh. Is it girly enough for you?”

Phi nodded numbly in disbelief, her fingers gently running across the metal. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

Sandrin seemed to grow taller with his pride. “Good. Lemme out it on you.”

Phi nodded again and handed him the necklace. She turned around and he draped the jewelry over her neck. Her smile grew as the clasp was fit.

“I love it.”

Sandrin didn’t comment this time. He just gently tapped her shoulder and went back to watching the Christmas movie on TV. Phi’s cheeks turned pink as her thoughts lingered on the gorgeous gift. She’d have to give him something later. Something that was equally beautiful.

Sahara didn’t say anything when she came back. Later on, when she left the house, she hugged Sandrin for the first time. His face was priceless.

~

She’d been feeling strangely overheated for days now.

On Evana’s insistence, she and her lover – lover, that word always felt so weird when she applied it to Corsik – had been traveling north-northwest for the past two weeks. She wasn’t sure what was driving her so hard, but whenever they slowed down or stopped for a night’s rest, she got restless and angry. There was somewhere she had to be soon, and she wasn’t there yet. She had to be there soon, just had to be, and Corsik didn’t understand. He tried to reassure her that there was plenty of time; he pointed out that if she didn’t even know where she was going, how could it matter how soon they got there?

He just didn’t get it. Maybe she didn’t know right at the moment where she needed to be, but when she got there, she would recognize it. Already, something in her was pulling her – when she got off-course, she got more and more temperamental until Corsik wisely corrected their path. They hadn’t stopped moving for the past three days, because Evana was growing obsessed with the idea that they were running out of time. She hadn’t known that the undead or the eternal could get tired, but she was exhausted and she knew that Corsik was too. Though she was sorry for it, she couldn’t stop. She had so little time left, and she didn’t know why she felt like that.

~

As the end of the fourth night neared, Corsik grabbed her arm. “Evana,” he said, his voice strained to the breaking point – he’d been yelling at her for the past twenty minutes, and she hadn’t seemed to hear a word. “Stop for a damn second!”

“I can’t!” she screamed at him, yanking her arm away. “There’s no time – I have to hurry, I—!”

“Hurry where?” he demanded, frustrated. He’d been indulging her for the past two weeks or so because she’d seemed so frantic, but enough was enough. She had no idea where she was going and they’d been running north for four straight days without any kind of break, for reasons that she couldn’t explain to his satisfaction. Or, for that matter, to hers. She was as frustrated with her wildly-swinging emotions and clamouring instincts as he was, but knowing that didn’t irritate him any less. “You don’t know where you’re going or why you’re going there – so what the hell is your hurry?”

Evana closed her eyes and for a second, she seemed to be struggling against tears. That terrified him; she didn’t cry. They’d been together for almost a full century, and he had never seen her break down for anything less than complete tragedy – never just because he was yelling at her. And because it scared him, it also stoked his temper. “Don’t do that. Don’t. Stop that!”

Oddly enough, his words appeared to steady her. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “I…I don’t know. But we can’t stop, Corsik. I can’t stop. If you…” It was obvious that it took a lot for her to get the next few words out, but she managed it. “If you want to stop here, that’s all right. I can—”

“Shut up,” he told her tersely. “I’m not letting you run off by yourself.”

He was furious and confused that she would question him like that. How could she not have known that that was what he would say? She should have known him better; he would never leave her in this vulnerable a position by herself. Not alone here, so far away from what they both knew.

She managed a weak smile. “But we’re close,” she said. “I can feel that. I know we’re close. If we can just—”

She suddenly went very, very still. Corsik turned to her. “Evana?” He reached out to shake her shoulder and recoiled – her skin was so hot that there seemed to be waves radiating off it. In the cold winter air, it was even more noticeable.

~

Burning. Burning.

Finally she realized what was going on. Finally she understood. It had been so long since the last time it happened that the early premonitions had been lost in the mists of her memory, but now she knew what was happening to her. She opened her mouth, tried to warn Corsik to get away, get away as fast as he could – but nothing would come out. Her tongue seemed to be paralyzed. And the heat in her body kept building.

Under the fire was a kind of numb heartbreak.

We didn’t make it. We didn’t get there.

As the fire inside her got hotter, the fog burned off and she understood everything – what was happening to her, where she’d been trying to go, why she was going there, and the fact that it would now be another thousand years before she ever managed to find her way. And that was only if she made it through.

Will I ever see home again?

And then the fire consumed her.

~

Corsik didn’t understand what was going on. She was sick, something was seriously wrong with her – no one should ever get that hot. He was torn: one part of him told him to go to her and stay with her, that he couldn’t leave her in this condition, and the more practical side told him that if he didn’t find a way to cool her down, she was going to die. Though he’d been told she was a Phoenix, that didn’t even factor into his thoughts – she had never been this hot even when using her powers to the fullest extent that she knew how. Something was wrong.

Eventually the practical side won out – they’d passed a river not even half an hour’s run from here. He couldn’t carry her there; by this point he couldn’t even get near her. The heat radiating from her was too intense. But he had their water containers, and if he could bring back enough to cool her down, things might be okay. “I’ll be back,” he told her, but she was swaying back and forth and her eyes seemed to have almost filmed over. He didn’t know if she’d heard him, but he couldn’t wait and repeat himself – she needed to be cooled down and it needed to be now.

Though it cost him more than he’d ever believed he could give, he turned away from her and ran towards the river, its sound distant even to his hypersensitive hearing.

Behind him, Evana fell to her knees, staring across the barren, cold, grey-and-brown landscape, but seeing nothing.

~

The fire burns her endlessly. She doesn’t know how to make it stop, but though she knows it should hurt, it doesn’t – not anymore. Maybe she is in shock. Maybe she has just adapted. Perhaps in some part of her, she knows that she has been in this place before.

Fire hurts. It burns. It devours. It ends.

But it doesn’t end.

The fire eventually purifies the body of a thousand years of damage and pain. It heals, re-creates, corrects, and finally returns what it has taken. It reshapes the mind first, the heart, and then the body.

From inside the womb of flame where her ashes are slowly re-forming, her eyes begin to open.

~

He hadn’t factored in his exhaustion when he’d thought it would be a half-hour’s run. It took him longer than that. But through sheer willpower – and okay, panic – he’d made it. Filling all the containers he’d managed to grab (and what a sight that must have been for any animals near enough to see, a rogue vampire tearing across the cold rocky ground with a battleaxe strapped to his back and an assortment of canteens plus a collapsible bucket clanging off one another as they dangled from his arms), he tried to get up from the riverbank. Failed – his legs wouldn’t hold him. Tried again. Almost fell on his face into the river. But he was nothing if not stubborn, and got to his feet on the third try
(well how about that third time really is the charm)
and he turned to see the single most terrifying, glorious, heartbreaking picture of his life – one he would always be able to recall with perfect clarity later on, even when the rest of this scene had turned into a slurred mess of confusion and panic and fear and pain in his memories.

He saw the column of blue flame in the sky – it blazed higher than any wildfire but in a perfect cylinder, and he had never seen anything so beautiful. Like any true beauty, it was too gorgeous to last, and even while he watched in silent awe, it faded away into nothing, leaving behind only a sullen grey sky.

Finally, it clicked for him what must have happened. It still confused him – she was too young, surely she was too young – but it had to be so. Then the next thing occurred to him: she would be coming back, waking up on a rocky plain she’d never been on before…

And he wouldn’t be there. Abandoning the containers – they could always come and retrieve them later, it wasn’t like there was anyone around to steal the stupid things – he ran back towards where he’d seen the fire blaze up. He had to get there before she woke up. He couldn’t leave her to wake up alone and afraid.

But his weariness took its toll. He stumbled, and when his eyes closed, he fell. When he hit the ground, he was already out.

~

Evana’s eyes opened. She stared up into the sky for a long moment, trying to find the clarity that had come to her in the moment before the fire had taken everything away. But the fog over her mind apparently wasn’t one of the things that the rebirth would fix; she couldn’t remember whatever had come back to her in that moment.

Well, if it had been important, surely she would have remembered it, right?

She sat up, dusting herself off. Her clothes were gone, she noted ruefully – she thought she had a spare set in her bag, but—

Her thoughts went on mental arrest. Corsik was gone.

For a second, her mind was full of nothing but terror. Oh God, she’d killed him, she must have, she hadn’t warned him in time to get away from her and the fire had taken him just like it had taken her but he wouldn’t be reborn in it he was just dead and it was her fault for being so stupid and not knowing what was happening and not warning him and…

Then she looked at the bags. They hadn’t been much farther away from her than Corsik had been, but they were completely unharmed. What was more, they were open. She couldn’t tell if anything was gone, but she pieced things together and her temper started to simmer.

He’d left her? That son of a b***h had left her? After all this time, after all the promises and everything they’d been for each other, he’d just taken off?

She tried to calm herself, tried to rationalize. If their positions had been switched and he’d suddenly burst into flames with no warning whatsoever
(but he’d had warning he knew she was a Phoenix she’d told him he’d KNOWN)
she would have been a little freaked out, too. She might have run. But she would have come back, she thought, temper and shock colliding now. She would have come back for him once she’d realized what was going on. And he must have realized eventually – she’d never made a secret of what she was. Not with him.

But he hadn’t come back. Had her rebirth made him rethink his decision? Had he figured out what had happened, decided he couldn’t be bothered to deal with any more of that and just kept going? She couldn’t believe that of him, didn’t want to think it, and yet…he was gone. Standing up slowly and staggering a little from the sudden burden dumped on her heart, she made her way to the bags. She didn’t look to see what was gone; she didn’t care what he’d taken. After a hundred years, these things had been theirs, rather than his or hers. She didn’t want them – any of them. Lifting a hand that burned with blue fire, she reached towards the bags, and then stopped.

He might want them. Maybe he would change his mind and come back. Maybe he’d need something in there – unlikely but possible. She was angry, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to die of starvation or anything else – she wanted to make him suffer personally for abandoning her. And if he didn’t come back…well, there would be other travelers through here. Eventually, these might serve as a godsend for someone. She let the fire dissipate. Taking some clothing from the bag, she dressed, making a silent vow to get different things as soon as she could afford to.

She let her heart and mind fill with her rage so that she wouldn’t give in to the sorrow. The pain wrenching her heart could wait. She had to get away from here. She wouldn’t cry for that son of a whore. Not here.

Taking on her true Phoenix form, she took to the sky and arrowed off north – she knew he wouldn’t have gone north. Not by choice. He hated the north. Letting rage and pain dictate her actions, she flew as far from where she thought he’d have gone as she could possibly go in her freshly reborn state.

When she landed, she took on her human shape again.

And then she finally let herself cry.

~

When Corsik finally came out of his coma-like state, he looked up at the sky. It had been just past dawn when he’d gone running to the river. The sun was setting now.

He’d been out almost a full day.

And Evana was still where he’d left her, probably furious with him. He was going to have some serious explaining to do when he got there. Taking off at full speed, he made it to the (very) makeshift campsite—

Stopped. Stared.

Their things were there. The charred circle in the ground where Evana had been was there. This was the place. But Evana herself was nowhere to be seen.

He called for her – hesitantly, at first. Maybe she’d woken up and been confused; perhaps she’d tried looking for him. “Evana?”

No response. He raised his voice, tried again. “Evana!”

Though there were no nearby mountains, he could have sworn he heard a mocking echo on the wind. But otherwise, there was nothing. Her senses were as good as his – she should be able to hear him if she was anywhere nearby. But there was no response.

The only way he could explain what he did next was a moment of sheer insanity. He started running – north, he thought crazily, she wanted to go north – but of course he saw nothing. Then he thought that maybe she’d returned to the site while he’d been racing off somewhere else, so he ran back. Of course she was still gone. He stood in the centre of the burned place for a moment, and though he couldn’t have said why, he felt that he could almost taste her feelings.

Rage. Betrayal. Pain.

And he understood that she wasn’t coming back.

The shock kept him immobilized for a few minutes, which stretched out into a few hours while he crouched there in the middle of the burned place that marked the last time he’d seen her. He’d thought she was sick. He’d tried to find a way to help her. And when she’d woken up, she had thought that he’d abandoned her.

Suddenly, he was full of a fierce kind of anger – the sort that burned hot and fast to hide the pain just underneath. How could she still think that of him? How could she not know him better than that? He stood up, his face going into a cold, set mask. She should ******** know it. She should know him. If she thought that running away was going to solve all her problems, she could damn well think again.

If her rebirth had scrambled her brains so badly that she thought he would abandon her when she needed him most, well, he would just have to remind her of how things really stood, wouldn’t he?

He left the bags where they were, but rearranged their contents neatly into the shape of a pair of wings as a sort of signal to her, should she ever come back to this spot. I was here. I did not leave you. If he’d known how to write, a note might have been better, but then again it might not – the weather on this plain tended to be fierce. All it would take was a wind that was a little too strong to blow it away.

Standing back, he examined the ‘note’ he had left for her one more time. Then he turned away and started walking north-northwest – the direction they had been heading. Maybe she was still trying to find the place that she had been wanting so badly.

He would find her again, and he would explain what had happened here. It might take centuries; he didn’t care if it took an eternity. There was simply no other option.

Because he’d promised to be there for her.

~

The night passed slowly in such a quiet little place. Not a single sound, humanoid or animal, marred the cold silence. At last, the sun rose, though it was invisible behind the clouds. The sky lightened from its unrelieved, starless black to a sullen, stormy grey.

Over the forlorn, abandoned little camp, a soft snow began to fall.

>.> Um...sorry. Kinda not in the holiday spirit, is it... sweatdrop Well, to make up for it, here's something that's very NOT sad.



~

Acrivah still didn’t know how she’d been talked into this. But then, Maddy was very persuasive. It didn’t help that Acrivah was terrible at saying no in general, and she would have felt awful saying no to Mikeal’s sister – particularly to such a friendly request. “Well, I need to get out of the house, that’s all. Want to come with me?” After all this time getting to know her, and when the question was paired with the wide-eyed hopeful look, how was she supposed to say no to that? It was reasonable, she rationalized. How bad could it be?

So she’d said “Um…sure, okay,” and now she was sitting here in a quiet corner of the tavern, trying her best to avoid notice. It wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it would be – it was quite dim in here, since it was in that awkward hour where it wasn’t dark enough to light any lamps or turn on any lights, but too dark for there to be a lot of natural light from the windows. Madeline, on the other hand, seemed to shine in the dim light as she returned from the bar. Acrivah noticed with mild alarm that Maddy was carrying two glasses, even though she’d said that she didn’t need anything. The other girl had only laughed before heading off.

Oh God, oh God, why was she here?

Maddy sat down in the seat across from her and pushed one of the glasses, full of a mysterious brown substance, towards Acrivah. She eyed it warily for a few seconds while Madeline tried – and failed – to stifle her giggles. “Oh, don’t worry, Acrivah,” the blonde said airily. “I hardly spiked it at all.” Acrivah’s eyes widened and she squeaked; at the sound, Maddy nearly choked from laughing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” she managed when she got her breath back. “It’s just…actually I’m not sure what it is, some kind of juice I think, but I don’t think it’s alcoholic.” She shot a suspicious glance at the bar before returning her attention to Acrivah and leaning forward, resting her elbows on the table, chin on her folded hands. “So. Let’s talk.”

Acrivah tried to look mildly curious rather than actively terrified, but there was an unholy gleam in Madeline’s eyes that told her yes, yes she should be scared. “A-about…um, what?”

Maddy waved a hand cheerfully. “Oh, I don’t know. Life. Men. How you’re doing with my big brother after all this time. Things like that.”

Too late, Acrivah realized what was going on here. “…Oh, um, I…well…it’s fine. It’s good. I…” She fumbled for words. Madeline was sitting quite patiently, occasionally taking a sip of whatever that blue substance in her glass was, but Acrivah knew better than to think that she’d forgotten her question – well, more like her pointed statement. Maddy was just waiting for her to manage to put together a coherent answer. “It’s…good,” she finished. She knew that that wasn’t a good enough answer, because it was so much more than just good, but it was so confusing and different and wonderful that she didn’t really know how to explain it.

Maddy seemed to sense that, though, giving her a sympathetic nod. “Not used to talking about your love life, are you?”

Acrivah stared very determinedly into her glass, not wanting to look up at the other girl. “I…um…well…” Before she could talk herself out of it, she blurted out, “I don’t have much to talk about.” Then her cheeks went fiery red. Why had she said that? She saw Maddy slowly lift a brow, and then she watched the comprehension dawn.

“So you’re a virgin in every way, huh?”

If she’d thought it was embarrassing before… “Um, I…well…”

The blonde took another very deliberate sip of the blue stuff. “That means yes. Do you want to keep it that way?”

Acrivah blinked. Made a little noise that might have been either “Um” or “Help.” Then she looked back into her drink, which she still hadn’t touched other than to use as a convenient staring point. “Um…maybe…maybe not?” she finally squeaked. “But…”

Maddy grinned, leaning back in her chair. “As long as you’re saying maybe you want to keep it that way, that’s the same as yes, honey. And if you want to remain innocent, no one’s going to judge you.” She glanced at the glass of blue…whatever. “Why don’t you think about it for a couple of minutes and then get back to me.” She took another casual sip, and Acrivah felt her cheeks burning as she continued to stare into her drink and turn it over in her mind.

Finally, she managed to take her eyes off the brown liquid and up to Maddy’s. “No.”

“No what?” Madeline asked, though the twinkle in her eyes told Acrivah she already knew exactly what she was trying to say.

“No, I don’t want to keep it that way,” she muttered. “But I don’t know…how to tell him that. I’ve never…um.” Her cheeks were bright pink and she was staring at the table like it was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. “I’ve never…”

“Seduced anyone?” Madeline suggested sweetly. Acrivah tried to will the fire in her cheeks to go down, but she couldn’t seem to cool the blush.

“Um. Yes. I mean no. I mean…”

Madeline bit her lower lip, but couldn’t seem to keep the smile down. “I know what you mean. Well then, honey, it’s a good thing you’ve got me to talk you through it.”

Acrivah blinked. “You know how?” she asked, then immediately wished she hadn’t.

But Maddy didn’t seem offended. Instead, she laughed easily. “As a matter of fact.”

Acrivah scuffed her foot, staring down at the table again. “Could you…um…?”

“Show you?” Maddy finished. “Find me someone who doesn’t mind playing the game, and then sure. Can’t say I can think of anyone who wouldn’t mind being used for show-and-tell purposes, though.”

There was a thoughtful silence, and then Acrivah offered tentatively, “I could ask Amon.” She and Amon had settled a few of their worst problems over the past several months, and though there was still a lot of awkwardness between them for reasons Acrivah didn’t fully understand, they had begun to rebuild their friendship after a fashion. More importantly for Acrivah’s current suggestion, she trusted him to help if she asked him to.

She wasn’t prepared for Maddy’s reaction. The blonde’s eyes narrowed and she definitively shook her head. “Not him. Absolutely not him. Not even for you, honey.” But…Acrivah looked closer while trying to appear like she wasn’t. Was there a little bit of a flush to the other girl’s face, or was it just a trick of the light? “I doubt he’d be interested in being a prop, and besides, he’s not my type.”

Acrivah suppressed a smile. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who spent a lot of time in denial. “Are you sure?” Judging by their initial reactions to one another before Amon had gone ahead and put his foot in it, she wouldn’t have said so.

“What? Yes, of course I’m sure.” Madeline smoothly changed the subject. “Anyway, since I don’t have anyone to help me show you, I guess we’re just going to have to talk it through.” Setting aside her empty glass and looking pointedly at Acrivah’s untouched one, she said cheerfully, “And there’s a lot to talk about, so let’s get started.” Getting to her feet, she grinned. “Come for a walk with me.”

With only a second to wonder – again – exactly what she’d gotten herself into, Acrivah got up and followed Madeline out.

As Maddy opened the door to leave the tavern, her first words trailed back in on the wind. “Okay, so the first thing we need to do is teach you how to walk sexy.”

And as the door swung closed, those patrons closest to the door would hear Acrivah’s terrified squeak.

Sleepless Nights—PhixSandrin
A gift for Silent! <3

This was quite possibly the most embarrassing situation that Phi had been in. Sahara was letting her sleep in a guest room despite not having paid any rent, but it was a room without any windows. It was dark, and Phi did not handle the dark well. In fact, she was very, very close to hyperventilating. Still though, she couldn’t stand the idea of going to tell Sahara or Sandrin of her fear. Sandrin would probably just laugh, and she felt bad enough what with her crying to Sahara all of the time. She didn’t need to bother the woman with these stupid things.

Still though, it was harder for her to breathe in the dark.

It was then that Phi remembered Sandrin’s pet—Ishabel. The cat glowed in the dark, right? Well, surely Sandrin wouldn’t mind if she borrowed her! Right? Right. Good. Phi was glad that she had this talk with herself.

Quietly sneaking out of bed and down the hall, Phi tried to keep away the thoughts that something was about to grab her and smash her and kill her and clip her wings and—stop. This was ridiculous.

Phi took nice, steady breaths as she pushed open the door to Sandrin’s bedroom. The thought suddenly struck her that he might sleep naked. He didn’t…right? Phi almost doubled back after that thought, but held strong. If that happened, she could just close her eyes and scream or something.

Thankfully, judging from the faint glow that Ishabel gave off, Sandrin wore pants to sleep. Quickly, Phi thanked every god and goddess that she had ever heard of. Then, carefully, she crept over and began to slowly extract Ishabel from the room.

Ishabel did not take well to such.

Immediately the cat started mewling and Sandrin woke up not long after that. He stared at her and she, hands still around the cat, could only stare back.

Finally Sandrin managed to speak. “Why are you in my room?” Phi only stared back with wide eyes. “Why are you grabbing onto my cat?” Ishabel mewled again and Phi began to splutter.

“I-I, it’s, I mean, nothing? This is all a dream! Go back to sleep. Go baaaaaaack to sleeeeeeep.” Phi did her best to make her voice sound all distorted and ghost like.

Sandrin was not impressed.

It took another minute of Sandrin’s dead stare to finally get Phi to speak again. She sighed and let go of Ishabel, shoulders sinking down. Her head hung low as she spoke, fully embarrassed. “I’m afraid of the dark.” Phi’s voice was barely a whisper.

Sandrin paused and stared. He was about to laugh when it suddenly struck him that this wasn’t a joke at all. Phi was genuinely scared of the dark, and, childish as that was, it made sense for her to try and steal away Ishabel. He sighed loudly, shaking his head.

“Fine. Take her.”

Phi’s smile grew. Well, that went much better than she had imagined that it would. Only, when she tried to pull Ishabel off of the bed, the cat dug in its claws and cried out so loudly that she was almost sure that Sahara would wake up. Tears sprung to her eyes. No! She needed some light. Otherwise she wouldn’t sleep, and monsters would grab her, and she would hyperventilate, and her breath would get so clogged that she would die, and—Sandrin began to panic slightly as he noticed Phi entering a mental breakdown.

“Ishabel!” He quietly hissed, glaring down the cat. Ishabel mewled in response. Sandrin did not fully approve of her plan. There was a stand off that only ended when Phi took in a wheezy breath. “Dammit! Fine.”

Sandrin was not pleased, but he followed Ishabel’s demands anyway. He got out of bed and scooped her up in his arms before looking down at Phi. “Come on.” As they started to exit his room, she grabbed his hand. He didn’t have the heart or the desire to tell her to let go.

When they got to her room, Ishabel bounded out of his arms and settled at the foot of Phi’s bed. Just seeing her faint glow light up the corners of her bedroom brought her immense comfort. Carefully, keeping her eyes on Ishabel, she slid into her bed. There. That felt better. Her throat was opening up again, and she could breathe once more. Phi was about to sleep when she noticed Sandrin setteling down next to her bed. “What are you doing?”

“Sleeping here. Ishabel’s rules.” Ishabel sure was a strange one. Gently, however, Phi smiled.

“Thank you.”

Sandrin shrugged a bit uncomfortably. This was all ridiculous, but it didn’t bother him nearly as much as he would have thought. Instead, he just sort of felt relieved that Phi was okay. It was strange, and very new, but he was much too tired to care. His eyes were heavy, but Ishabel hissed very softly at him to wake up.

Right. He promised that he make sure she was asleep. So he waited. Thankfully, it only took five minutes. After that, Sandrin was fast asleep. The last thought to cross his mind simply being how pretty Phi could be when she was asleep.

*sniffles*

I really, REALLY LOVE IT. <3

I've written something similar in kinda the same type of format. It's really hard to balance the rawness of the thoughts with the beauty of the words, but you've achieved as such very nicely. <3

It makes me sad that eventually it'll have to come to this.