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Babies are information sponges. They remember lots of things and lots of things have huge impacts on them. I don't really care about what the people around the out of place infants have to say because they loud noises, foul smells, fumes and people in general aren't conducive to a good environment in which the baby can grow up sanely. I love how easily Tom Henderson dismisses babies as a factor by saying they won't object. Perhaps this is because many are dumb as the kid from Pinball Wizard and nondescript crying isn't the best way to say, "I want to go home not outside then back in again." Maybe I've got a contrived argument but I don't see the point in allowing a baby into a bar or pub when it clearly has no positive merits for anyone involved. It shows selfishness on the part of the parents and though I don't see a ban showing up, I would probably be foul tempered to any parent willing to bring a minor of any age into such an environment.

I'm pretty much the most straightedged person I know. But when it comes to mind altering substances it's not because it's illegal here in the states that I don't consume them, I'm just scared. I am scared of losing control and awareness more than anything. Since I'm a kinda impulsive person that needs to focus on controlling myself in one way or another in many situations I'd rather stay at the wheel and keep myself under my own control.

Most people looked at him with terror and with fear
But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear

Tsarist Russia*

Ra-ra Rasputin Russia's greatest love machine.

It seems worth it in some ways, but I'm not overexcited for it seeing as I'm for the conscious part a law abiding citizen. Most I see myself getting out of this is doubling it as a second PC or emulating some older titles.

This place is more than slightly rank with decay. Last post was nearly 5 months ago and I doubt anyone but me is still looking at this. Oh, how the best of intentions fall so short on results.

Arrested Development?

Voltaire, ftw.

Reason why I stay away from there. It is a time black hole.

40/40 If anyone gets this...

People have been known to spike those Tic-Tac with date rape drug.

Done since yesterday. I missed being called a scummy piece of **** by Jube. I am desolate.

This is alright. I'd prefer it if you'd actually use normal quotation marks rather than apostrophe's stuck together but that's not a big problem. You do realize that countertenor is the rough equivalent of a male alto? This means it's high for a man. I can't decide if you are saying he has a high voice or if you meant something else. Clarify please. Structure of the story is pretty good so far, but it's a very small sample so it's hard to tell a lot from it. I can't say I think anything is particularly wrong here, so much as there are things that don't sit right with me personally. Time period is a bit ambiguous. I assume it's now-ish because there isn't enough oil left on Earth to have it too terribly far off but the description of the city is kinda odd for such a timeframe. So I'm left slightly confused. It's more than readable, but I'd still categorize it as too short to be sure of anything.

That image must be at least a yottabyte.

Halo supports a classless society. I cannot condone such actions because I need plebeians to step on.

A little longer and talkier than my last two segments and a lot less edited. I can sense a bad decision being made here but it's not the time of day to be questioning my judgment and expecting it to help. Cnc is always appreciated. Grammatical catches are too.

1-3

Spoiler

“Oh, hey Justin.” When Hughes first walked up to her with his girlfriend in tow Erica wanted to run, but the memory of yesterday was too fresh in her mind to allow that, so she sat still and looked up at her old friend congenially.

“Hey, I haven’t stopped by the old lunch spot since we got together so I figured it’d be nice to see how everyone was doing.” The brown haired girl smiled and nodded as he spoke and waited for him to leave. She had thought that she’d been doing a good job avoiding them, but they just hadn’t tried very hard to find her until then. The lunch spot was a fairly nondescript stretch of hallway where no one had been sitting when Fred, Erica, and Justin were looking for a place to sit last year. As simple as its founding was the three of them spent the greater half of the last year sitting there, talking about what they were doing and just hanging out. No one could forget the place and Justin’s presence that day was proof of concept.

“That’s fine.” Erica never actually ate lunch at school because that would entail either making a meal ahead of time in the morning or buying something. She didn’t have the motivation to do anything in the morning and no job to finance a daily fee that her mother wouldn’t cover. So she either bummed food off her teammates, former teammates, after school or waited until she got home.

“You seem really aloof, did something happen?” He was prying again. It was never fine with Erica to pry, but even less so when she felt that she was in such a fragile emotional state.

“Not since I stopped messing with those stupid boys.” She chuckled to herself. She must have sounded like an idiot blabbering on like that and they kept on asking for more like sadists.

“So that’s what all those kids were talking about you for.” Kira chimed in. Oh, that Kira. Ever the observant listener.

“Yeah, I made a bit of a bad name for myself, but it didn’t really end up being too fun, so I’m out of that for now.” She continued with a smile. What else was there left to do but smile? She’d cried, shouted, thought, and moped about all she could handle. So when she felt horrible she smiled.

“Whatever you like, right?” Justin nodded in a sort of vague agreement. Agreeable people are agreeable because they don’t voice coherent thoughts, they grin and nod.

“Right.” Erica nodded and smiled like she never would have if she didn’t so want to wince and grimace.

“Fred’s not here?” Justin seemed to suddenly notice. It seemed as though the conversation had gotten boring enough for him to look for another mouth to listen to. Erica was only disappointed that it did not prompt his departure instead of his inquiry.

“She has club activities and stuff at lunch and after school today.” Erica explained patiently. If this had been a year or two ago Justin would have known that, but it wasn’t and he didn’t, there was nothing for it.

“Oh yeah, tryouts for track team were yesterday and you weren’t there, nor were you at swim team or anything.” So the small talk continued. Each word fell on the blue eyed girl’s ear like knives.

“I’m not gonna ask why you showed up to those or at the very least asked about it, but I quit all of the teams I was on.” Erica replied somewhat indignantly.

“Why?” He asked simply. Erica couldn’t decide whether it was for better or worse that he was the only one talking to her and Kira was for the most part silent.

“I was bored with being the sporty girl I guess.” Erica said nonchalantly as she turned her head away from the pair with the pretense of yawning. At least they hadn’t taken seats and acted like they were staying much longer.

“I need a new name for you then Spartan.” Kira joked familiarly. Erica began grinding her teeth and only just managed to answer.

“Spartan still works fine if you’re so attached to it.”

“It won’t be the same without the sports.”

“Do as you like.” Erica waved her off aloofly and with that, the conversation was over. The two said that everything was wonderful and that if things remained that way they’d be seeing her again soon and with that wonderful note they took their wonderful leave. Erica sighed as she watched the last traces of her company disappear around a corner and continued sitting there, alone, trying not to think of anything related to her own life. It wasn’t difficult. There was math, history, grammar, and current events to think about. Anything so small as her own personal life could easily be lost in the massive shuffle. Before Erica realized it lunch was over and the second set of classes was on its way.

“I guess I’d better get going.”


-----


After school, Erica ducked out of the building and dashed off towards her house as quickly and surreptitiously as possible. After all of the headaches that running into people led to over the past two days she was going to make sure that there wasn’t another slip up today.

“Hey Erica.” It was Kira speaking to her, from around the next corner. Silent and sneaky as a cat that girl was. Erica slowed her pace to a walk and let Kira follow.

“Hey.” She replied without turning her head or waving. Kira seemed to take the gesture well because she remained in silence for the next solid minute. Suddenly, she leapt ahead of Erica and turned to her arms crossed and gaze unwavering. She was up to something.

“What happened to you?” Kira had her cornered for all the good any escape would have done, so Erica played along. It would be best to lay things out before this particular girl anyways, even if she was a huge irritation.

“I have no idea what you’re asking me about.” Erica retorted as she came to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Don’t play dumb with me. I still have connections to the demon underground.” Kira very nearly reprimanded as she grabbed Erica’s wrist and tugged her off the main road to a small alcove between to storefronts. Erica wanted to resist, but she knew better than to fight against a girl like Kira.

“I’m just a normal human. That has nothing to do with me.” Erica insisted as she turned her head away from Kira and slipped her hand free.

“Funny you should say that. I heard that Raven was killed in the final battle by a normal human, sound familiar?” The dark haired girl pressed. The thing Erica hated about her for most often aside from her sense of humor was her long, black, smooth, straight hair. It looked great and she knew it. Erica couldn’t help but run a hand through her own hair to confirm her disdain of its color, texture, and style.

“Sounds like a stupid rumor to me.” She scoffed without looking back at the dark haired girl. The only advantage she saw to being taller than average at this time was that it was easier to keep the shorter girl out of her sight while they spoke.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kira was just ignoring Erica’s refusal to admit to anything now and acting on the assumption that she was right. That only served to irritate Erica even further.

“There was nothing to tell.” The brown haired girl insisted firmly.

“Was it a leg injury? Internal organs? What did he do to you?” Kira balked with equal tenacity and advanced a pace and a half closer, so close that Erica could see her from the corner of her eye and brought her gaze back to the front for the sake of convenience.

“Nothing happened!” Erica finally looked straight into Kira’s face as she snapped. The dark haired girl looked worried and what’s more angry, as if she’d been somehow wronged.

“If you had come to me back then I could have called a magic healer--”

“I told you that nothing happened! Stop patronizing me and acting like you can just tell me what happened and what didn’t!” Erica wasn’t about to stop there. Every push, every little nudge even, until this point had driven her closer to shouting everything she had on her mind and she’d finally had enough.

“Then why’d you disappear for three whole months?” Kira shouted back.

“I already told you, told everyone, that I was visiting my grandparents out in the country. Is that so hard for you to understand?” Erica was breathing heavily by now and almost ready to start the ill advised fight she’d already decided against. Just as she was about to start yelling again Kira spoke, this time in a softer voice.

“I get it. I’ll let you alone. But know this I’m not the only one who’s worried about you.” She was calm again. Cool and collected as she always was no matter what the situation.

“Like I care.” Erica frowned and closed her eyes, making a visible effort to compose herself. Unsuccessfully.

“That’s right, you don’t seem to care about anything anymore.” Kira replied acidly.

“Nothing that concerns you! I stay out of your way don’t I? I keep my distance and I don‘t bother you in the slightest. I don’t give anyone any reason to care about what I’m doing. Are you saying that I‘m not doing enough?” Erica blurted out. She instantly regretted saying anything at all, but she had to plough on through the mistakes again. There was nothing else for it.

“Is that what this is about?” Kira asked incredulously.

“Yeah. I don’t know what kind of fantasy world you’ve been living in that would make you think otherwise. You and Hughes, and the rest of that crew, are different from me. Even with all of the demon business over with and your powers gone, you’ve still been through a lot together. A lot of things that I wouldn’t understand, a lot of things that make it clear that I don’t belong with you lot. So why don’t you just put the past behind you and leave me with it?” Erica turned her head again, this time not to hide Kira from her view but instead, to hide her own face from Kira.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I never tried to do anything to you!” Kira’s gaze followed her and Erica couldn’t help but turn fully away from her. The only thing between them was her own back but, for Erica, it was better than nothing at all.

“It never would have flitted through my mind that you’d have to try.” She laughed wryly. It’d been a long time since she’d talked to Kira alone and it was just as annoying as before, but even more painful.

“I didn’t mean anything like that.” The dark haired girl said apologetically as she tried to pat Erica’s shoulder only to have her hand swept away almost instantly. “Instead, why can‘t you just put that behind you? We‘re not trying to keep you out, that‘s all on you!”

“Would it make a difference if I pretended that everything was as it was before you appeared?” Erica asked softly. It was easier to be calm when it felt like she was talking to thin air.

“What?”

“I’m asking if you think that Hughes would still treat me the same if I tried to fit in with him and his new friends now after they’ve been to hell and back again. I’m a normal human without any outstanding attributes or records, achievements or ambitions. Nothing about that fits in with your crowd; I was the only one that had no connection to this from the start. I’m not on your wheel of fate and there’s no room for me on it anyways. Everyone knows that people can’t be friends forever once they become so disparate. Normal people just let things go over distance and time.”

“We were never friends then were we?” Kira answered slowly.

“That’s right.” Erica swallowed hard. She would end it here. “I only said that before to please Hughes. Once I get a chance, I‘m leaving and letting you all have fun without having to worry about me and my problems. Would that make you happier?”

“Me? Yes, but do you want him to know that?”

“So considerate. Yeah. Tell him everything I said. I should have told him myself the second you two came back from your little adventure. But I guess I was still too attached to him at that point.”

“Alright, I’ll tell him that. I hope you don’t regret this.”

“It’s music to my ears.” Erica turned around to look at Kira one last time before walking off the scene and met the now downcast looking girl with a smile.


-----


When Erica got home her mother was gone. It was better that way, because her mother didn’t know or care about her personal life and wasn’t about to get forced into changing that. So Erica dropped her school things on her bed and headed straight to the bathroom mirror to see how bad she looked.

Though it wasn’t a pretty sight, she couldn’t say she hated it much more than usual. The tears were less visible this time and though she had bags under her eyes from sleeplessness she still didn’t look much different from how she usually did when she woke up in the morning. It wasn’t comforting, but it was familiarity.

Erica didn’t bother to clean her face and simply walked back out into the living room. She quickly contemplated watching some television but quickly thought better of it when she received a text message from Fred. It amounted to a five word pep talk in a box that Erica didn’t want but it did remind her of what she’d talked about the day before.

“Apologize, you said?” She murmured to herself. The girl’s brow furrowed in thought momentarily before she pressed a few buttons and reached her contacts list. The only numbers she kept there were Fred’s which she had memorized and a sub-list of all the boys she’d ever dated.

“Might as well try to make amends, it’s not something that I’d do so it must be right.” Erica said as she sat down in front of her couch by the coffee table and began calling and deleting numbers.

The process wasn’t pleasant and she got a lot of verbal abuse and ridicule out of it, but by the end she was beginning to feel that whether it did anything or not it was a therapeutic distraction.

“One more call.” Erica said to herself as he wiped away the last bit of salt from her face. She looked at her phone and wanted to throw it across the room, but grit her teeth and dialed the last number she’d left on her contacts list. It rang several times before someone picked up. It was Needy. Of all of the boys on the list he was the only one that she didn’t actually date for any amount of time. He was far too annoying to deal with for that long. Every time he opened his mouth, it was invariably to make an ass of himself.

“I thought you never wanted to talk to me again.” He held a good natured tone despite the terms on which they’d parted on and that only made it even harder to talk to him.

“This is the last time, alright?” Erica snapped.

“Sounding a bit apologetic already. Did something happen?” He wasn’t sarcastic, but he wasn’t being totally straight with her either.

“Nothing. But you now why I called, right?” Erica asked, following the script she’d made up for herself to a tee.

“Of course. You may have had me back there, but it was a one time thing. Hate to be a walking cliché, but I can see things a bit more clearly than when I was trying to be with you.” He sounded almost arrogant at this point, trying to save face was one thing but what he was doing was just stupid.

“Good, well you’re the last one to call so after this, it’s over. I apologize.” She said quickly as possible. It wasn’t in her to draw it out further than she already had regardless of how bad it sounded he’d just have to deal with it.

“What? Is that it?” He chuckled. He was clearly having fun with it. Despite his emotional outburst earlier, he wasn’t the weakest or stupidest of the people Erica had ever met. He was just really insensitive to those around him so he got caught up in his own rhythm without being able to understand anyone else and then losing it over the incongruity.

“It’s all I have to say to anyone right now.” Erica replied solemnly.

“You know, I thought I had you figured. You’d pick up people and throw them out and then jerk them around a little if you thought it would be fun, but here you are saying sorry and acting like you don’t want anything out of it. What’s with you?” He was probably shaking his head and running a hand through his hair on the other end Erica thought.

“Just let me keep being selfish, I’m not going to bother you again after this.”

“What do you think you’re doing? You know I don’t believe a word of this and you keep going on like it’s a perfectly honest and straightforward conversation. No such conversation have we ever had.” He pressed. Now she could practically imagine the smirk creeping slowly across his face.

“It’s up to you alright; I just needed to say it for myself. This is why I hated you anyways, always trying to pry into other people’s thoughts.”

“Then why are you still talking to me?” He asked with an implied emphatic grin.

Click

“There. Happy now?” Erica snapped at the phone as she drew it away from her ear and stared at the now blank screen. It was empty now, like her. Erica powered off the phone and plugged it into the wall; half wishing she could recharge herself the same way. She looked up at the clock. Over an hour had passed and her mother was showing no signs of coming home. Erica stood up, stretched, and walked to the bathroom again. This time she pulled off her hair clips and shook out her hair before looking at herself again. It was nice to have a lot of hair to cover her face. She wouldn’t have to look too closely at it if it was more than half covered. But she knew that it couldn’t help.

The people who knew her still knew her aspect and manner. Hiding behind a curtain of hair wouldn’t change a thing. So she sighed and pulled off her sweater, skirt, and stockings. Beneath them her body was crisscrossed with scars that hadn’t faded over the three months she spent out in the hospital. With an eye on the mirror she ran a finger over a particularly long scar that reached from the top of her shoulder down to her hip. She smiled at herself, turned away from the mirror and turned on the water in the shower. If there was anything she felt like doing now, it was washing away the evidence of all that had happened since last year. The absurdity of that wish couldn’t help but make her smile again as she removed what was left of her garments and stepped beneath the artificial rain.

“And this is why I still like you, always putting on a bad face for yourself and leaving it on for everyone else.”

It's a personal thing really so it was probably wrong to knock it like that, but I disliked what they did with FFX and I don't want a repeat of that.