littleLorraine

Beth pushed against the pouch's flap when she reached the opening. The thick fabric was much lighter than she had anticipated, and she pulled her hand back immediately. A quickly drawn breath cleared away most of her shock, giving her the courage to make a second attempt. She lifted the flap slowly, holding it up just high enough for her to continue awkwardly crawling forward. This whole time Beth had been mentally preparing herself for another too big to comprehend room and another new face to go along with it, but when she was finally clear of the pouch, all that was waiting for her was a cupped hand. Logically following the attached limb up, she turned around to find Cecil. His relief was a spritz of rain in the dry heat of summer, and Beth felt the coiled-up tension slip off her shoulders. ‹Everything is ok,› he promised softly. ‹I have got you.› Creeping out a little further to be fully clear of the pouch, Beth took a seat on what she'd only just realized was Cecil's other

Beth pushed against the pouch's flap when she reached the opening. The thick fabric was much lighter than she had anticipated, and she pulled her hand back immediately. A quickly drawn breath cleared away most of her shock, giving her the courage to make a second attempt. She lifted the flap slowly, holding it up just high enough for her to continue awkwardly crawling forward. This whole time Beth had been mentally preparing herself for another too big to comprehend room and another new face to go along with it, but when she was finally clear of the pouch, all that was waiting for her was a cupped hand. Logically following the attached limb up, she turned around to find Cecil. His relief was a spritz of rain in the dry heat of summer, and Beth felt the coiled-up tension slip off her shoulders. ‹Everything is ok,› he promised softly. ‹I have got you.› Creeping out a little further to be fully clear of the pouch, Beth took a seat on what she'd only just realized was Cecil's other

A heavy hush fell over the store when the security log finished its tale. The Rho who had initially stepped forward clenched his hands into fists and leveled a hard glare at Erilander before turning his attention to Piers. "Why would he ask you to cast?" Swallowing thickly, Piers shuffled his feet. "That's um..." "Because he's only half an elf!" Erilander spat. "A pale shadow compared to the genuine article, and one who threw away his chance to be seen as anything more than an utter disappointment!" Steel flashed in Piers's desaturated eyes. "I am what you made me. Don't blame me for your choices. All of this, everything that I am, is because of you." Erilander hissed, hunching his shoulders like a beast about to pounce. "If that's how you feel, why not just cast me and get it over with? That hunger in your eyes... I know that's what you want more than anything else." "Warranted or not, I won't do it," Piers stated flatly. "If there's one thing today has proven beyond a shadow of

With how strange the past few weeks had been, Spencer wasn't surprised when Talia suddenly asked if he wanted to randomly go out for a drive one afternoon. She'd been cagey about work recently and had been spending most of her recent days off running errands alone. They hadn't neglected to set aside some time to be together, but there was an unspoken tension building in the cracks between those sporadic, calmer moments. Spencer settled in her jacket pocket and spared a thought to the fact that she was getting in her car. 'Going out of the city most likely,' he postulated while closing his eyes. The "where" didn't really bother him, nor did all of Talia's secrets. He trusted her and her judgement. Aside from what surprise she had in store, he couldn't wait for the return of the easier atmosphere. All the stress wasn't impossible to deal with, but it did wear him down a lot faster the longer it stuck around. They drove for a while, exchanging the stop and go of the city blocks for

Gavil didn't completely vanish over the next few days, but he spent as much of his free time as he could researching and making calls. While his resources weren't as great as they would've been if he actually worked at a facility with Aprixes, his initial claims were dead on. Despite his status as an "outsider" to the industry, all of the Saumars he contacted at least gave him the time of day, which was a lot more than they'd do for anyone else. In the meantime, Aria and Vim kept each other company. The latter grew more worried as days went by, and while the little Terran did all she could to assuage those concerns she couldn't give him the peace of mind he craved. Most of their time together was spent in the safety of Gavil's room, but occasionally they wandered out into the main living space at the front of the house. Early on they filled the long, dragging hours by talking. Now that Vim could speak, he told Aria about his life on Taullo, and what he left behind. This was the

Because we'd gotten on the block rail at the end of the line, we had to wait through all five of the stops between ParMart and our apartment complex. Noah didn't seem to mind and might have even been using the wait to put himself somewhat back together. I'd tried to sit casually, but I was too wound up to pull that off. My fingers drummed on my crossed arms, and I kept my eyes locked on the tunnel darkened windows. 'Almost there,' I kept telling myself. 'Then we can get this over with.' I wasn't entirely sure what I meant by that. Most of this had absolutely nothing to do with me, and in some ways, I was probably intruding. So far Noah had been relatively pleasant, but that didn't mean very much. He'd been there back when I first met Ian a lifetime ago, Levi too. However, they were the "Older Brothers" and didn't have time to meet some random person their youngest brother had happened to befriend. Ian had mentioned them in passing before everything turned on its head, so I hadn't

A weighty thud shook through the stone wall, followed by a muffled grunt. "That should do it!" Va'ldi called from the other side. "Everything's in place whenever you're ready." "Thank you!" Ceif replied, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure her softer voice was heard. She flashed a quick smile to the wall before turning around to face the others waiting behind her. Three of Moonglow Sanctuary's monks were with her, waiting attentively for their teacher's next lesson. Over the two months since they'd arrived at the Sanctuary, she'd gotten better about being around so many Rhotitians at once, but she hadn't beaten her nerves completely just yet. Learning the myriad of names had been a challenge too, one she'd continued to dodge around with relative ease. Ceif gestured at the three metal pipes against the wall that Va'ldi had just finished connecting. "I'm going to imbed these with their charms now," she explained to the eager monks. She paused to let them scratch a few

I had a lot on my mind, so I opted to stay in my apartment the next day. Both the quiet and not being surrounded on all sides by words, figures, and numbers helped me think, and that was something I desperately needed the space to do. I'd been assured over and over again by everyone that taking some time for myself was not only a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but one that was encouraged as well. My job might not be crucial to the day-to-day operations of the smithy, but it was still important in its own right. However, they all viewed the individual as more than just their tasks, so if I needed a break, I should take it. After spending the better part of the morning digging through the various belongings I'd been allowed to take from the Manor, I finally found what I was looking for. My father's old guitar had seen better days, but both he and later I had taken very good care of it. I trailed my fingers over the strings, cringing at the out of tune notes their twang produced. It

No amount of interior decorating or personal touches could ever transform the weirdly sterile model house into a proper home, but every little bit helped. Sergeant Wartun and his subordinates used their full power and jurisdiction to get Mel, Scott, and Grant anything they could possibly want or need, which had made their first full year of guarded lockdown bearable at the very least. The space-faring trauma survivors and the small military outfit had come to know each other very well in that time, and it was their ability to honestly work together that made it all possible. Grant was out at another all-day conference somewhere else on the sprawling SEARCH campus, leaving Mel and Scott to fend for themselves. Thanks to all the modifications Wartun had personally overseen, the shrunken duo had full access to every room in the house, allotting them a freedom that seemed forever out of reach given their size. It had been a slow, quiet day, like so many others before it, but Scott

An unfinished game of Go lay spread out over the board and table. It had been a long time since Nora had an extended, uninterrupted chance to play a game against herself and she'd really been enjoying it. However, once Tilly had taken it upon herself to be her opponent, or more accurately started batting the stones around, Nora had to abandon the game. Now she was lying against Tilly's side as she stared up at the ceiling. The constant rumbling of purring was almost enough to lull her to sleep, but her mind was too awake and wired to even think about shutting down. 'It's been over two hours...' she mumbled into the silence. 'Do interviews normally take that long?' Ethan had left a little after noon. He'd applied to as many jobs as he could find that roughly fit his skill set, and this was the third call back he'd gotten in the past month. The previous two he turned down because they weren't quite what he thought they'd be, but he was doing his best to remain tentatively

Blaire pulled into one of the few open parking spots behind Rosewood Ceramics and tried to catch her breath. It wasn't unusual for her to visit Gina while she was at work but getting an urgent call to come right over on her lunch break was. Gina hadn't said much over the phone, just that she should bring a small kit if she could. 'One of those little guys is hurt,' Blaire put together quickly enough. 'And it might be something bad, like the first time.' She gripped the steering wheel with both hands before pushing off and opening the door. Having come from work she was still in her scrubs and thankfully it had been a clean morning all things considered. When she reached the pottery shop's backdoor she ignored the handle and just knocked. Invited or not she didn't want to barge in. That, and the door could be locked. Gina was in the doorway seconds later, her weary smile sending up all kinds of warning flags. "Thanks for coming so fast, babe," she said, motioning for Blaire to

Walter had shut the coffee shop's open sign off and turned away for only a minute when the door's bell chimed. He sighed quietly to himself and slowly turned around. "Sorry friend, but you'll have to come back tomorrow if you want-" John was standing in the doorway, bag in hand and a teasing smile on his face. "Should I just come in the backdoor instead?" he quipped. Hurrying over to his son with more energy than he'd had for the last couple of hours, Walter wrapped his arms around John. "What're you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on a plane off to some far corner of the country?" "I was," John laughed, hugging his dad back, "but I got delayed." He pulled away to look at Walter directly. "I don't know the specifics, just that there were some complications with the plane and the airport itself, so I took a connecting flight here and hopefully will be able to actually head out on Monday." Shaking his head, Walter chuckled. "Well, you picked a hell of a weekend to swing by.

Lettie leaned back against the couch and crossed her arms. She and Keith had been hanging out ever since the others left, which was a nice change of pace. They'd spent some time catching up while Keith showed off the recent additions and modifications he'd made to his home. It hadn't been anything huge this time, but the upgrades to his work bench and tools were still impressive. She'd never made anything close to that elaborate, so Lettie was beyond impressed. After that adventure things mostly slowed down. There wasn't much they could do on their own, but Peter and Wes had thought ahead. Wes's monster of a computer had a cable running down to a TV on the first floor, giving them access to his impressive library of games and media. Peter had gone out of his way to make multiple pathways and ladders for the couch, the kitchen, and beyond. So far, they'd watched a few episodes of an old show they both liked, but Lettie's thoughts were elsewhere. 'They'll have been there for a while

Trine didn't know how long she'd been staring at the clock projection. Most mornings she didn't bother trying to decipher it as she waited for the single pattern that mattered: the one that made the alarm go off. Her muscles were already tensed as she braced herself for the noise. Radorin's alarm wasn't anywhere near as loud or abrasive as Icr's had been, but the painful anticipation had been conditioned into her all the same. First came the sound, then too much motion and even more noise... All of which culminated in another day filled to bursting with overloaded senses and more information than she could process. Even if the severity had dramatically decreased since she'd moved in to Radorin's quarters, Trine couldn't say that she was free of terror. The symbols kept changing and had almost perfectly lined up with the pattern the Terran was waiting for. Any moment now she'd snap, either from the alarm itself or her own bottled-up tension. A shiver traveled the length of Trine's

Most of the trees in the forest around Nettles were coniferous, so the fiery colors of the chilly autumn didn't reach the ruined town. Bright splashes of red or gold peeked through the sea of dark evergreen, livening up the canopy in short spurts. Every so often a fallen leaf would blow into town, gracing the residents with a passing hint of the outside world. Those distractions were hardly needed at the moment what with all the other preparations going on. The cracked streets were bustling with activity as the people of Nettles finished setting up their biggest annual celebration, Thanksgiving. What had started as a grim memorial had slowly evolved into something closer to the holiday's original meaning. It had been on a Thanksgiving afternoon that the accident that sealed the town's fate had happened. There were visitors from out of town who'd been trapped, and others who had left for the day only to be barred from ever returning. In the years that had immediately followed, the

I'd gotten so used to being at Rookwood Manor that I didn't feel that weird, floaty-ness in the air anymore. Devin's running theory was that I because I was getting stronger, the wielded magic on the building wasn't affecting me as much, while Marshall seemed to think it was just from exposure. Both conjectures felt correct in their own ways, but I leaned more towards Marshall's idea. Going from being around no magic to being around ALL of it was a pretty drastic change no matter how you sliced it. In what had become an unspoken tradition Devin and I were at the Manor again this weekend. His training had been getting more intense, but Rosalyn was pleased with his progress. Thanks to how much I'd advanced as well it was safe for me to be in the same room as them while they worked, even though I was barred from listening in on the actual lessons. These were powerful family secrets, so I understood the caution. We handled this sort of training the exact same way at my family's shop.

Things were getting better, and had been for a while. Lucas still walked on eggshells around me from time to time, but every day he seemed more confident, more like himself. I'd managed to find some of that feeling too, mostly in the little things. The way he looked at me when he thought I didn't notice, how careful he was when he reached for me, the way his voice sounded when it was just the two of us. That cold spike of fear still lingered deep in the back of my mind, but most days it didn't bother me at all. This particular Saturday afternoon had one of our best in recent memory. It's true Lucas and I spent most of the morning cleaning our apartments, but it was all very relaxed and strangely carefree. We were on the phone the whole time, chatting away like we used to at CIT. He was so open and unrestrained in a way I hadn't seen him be in a while. Each of his laughs warmed my heart and sent chills through my body. Weird as it was to say, I'd desperately needed this. To think

Countless voices and laughter rang out in the darkness, loud enough to be heard through the closed windows. The din sent chills through my body, making the warmer first floor feel like my attic home. Normally I'd be tucked away in some corner, hiding from the influx of people wandering around the darkened streets. It was all so much, too much, and even though I knew they weren't coming inside, I couldn't stop myself from cowering whenever a voice sounded too close. Why had I agreed to do this? Kayla had made it sound so simple, hanging out close to the front door, goofing off, and eating candy while waiting for trick-or-treaters. Hearing her so excited about it had gotten me excited too, so much so that I'd forgotten why I hated being anywhere near the front door. It'd only been an hour, but that had been more than enough time to stress me out beyond what I'd been prepared to deal with. There was a knock on the door, followed by the customary shout of "Trick or Treat!", and I

The distant melody of another Christmas song echoed from upstairs, as did his mom and uncle's actually pretty good singing, but John didn't move. It was all just noise to him at this point. A quiet, half-formed thought tried to encourage him to get up and go help them decorate the tree, but his entire body had been carved from a block of cold, numb stone. He slid lower in the booth's faded bench seat. Sitting before him was the equally inert empty cup of coffee he'd originally come down into the shop for, which had been drained and left to cool for some time. John's blank expression stared at the door. Night had fallen hours ago, bringing with it the soft, hazy glow of a snowstorm. The heavy white powder blanketed the rest of the world, rounding out harsher edges and burying everything in indistinct obscurity. If you didn't already know what to expect under a particular snowbank, you'd have no way of finding out without more than a little digging. Over the past hour or so both the

Mel found herself in a place she hadn't been in years but would always recognize: Grant's childhood home. Appearing here so suddenly didn't faze her in the slightest either. Ever since being trapped in Grant's subconscious she'd become a naturally lucid dreamer, for better and worse. While she didn't have control over where she ended up, once she got there Mel had all the freedom in the world. "Not that surprising I wound up here of all places," she sighed, sinking into the old but familiar couch cushions. "It's been what, like two months since he left?" She'd hardly had a chance to process Grant moving out at the time since everything had happened in the blink of an eye. After being cleared for release they'd all gone home together, only for Grant to immediately pack up and turn right back around. Mel and Scott were drawn back into their normal routines just as quickly, forcing them to deal with the day-to-day demands that they'd missed while they were away. Since then, Grant had

It was rare for the house to be this quiet, especially when we had a group of fairies staying with us. Both Willow and Gaby had gotten messages early in the morning, and that had set the course for the entire day. Stormwing and his family were at the farm, which was news to me at least, and they'd run into some kind of problem. Will had been up and moving before I could get a straight answer out of her about what was wrong, and what little I heard from Gaby wasn't enough to draw any kind of conclusion. Cameron got bullied into tagging along because they were gonna need some muscle, and that's what had brought the entire conversation to a screeching halt. There hadn't been any real trouble from the current group that was staying with us, but their time here had just been weird. To put it nicely they were extremely particular about certain things, and seemed to be ready to take matters into their own hands if Willow or Sprig couldn't help them exactly how they wanted to be helped. None

A seam appeared between the stalwart Vale Oak trees, and the Horned Doe stepped through. She'd been getting better at moving between the layers of the Woods, better even than most of the older Spirits. They attributed it to her mortal origins, especially given her affinity to the Land of the Kings. The Doe took a few steps forward and changed into her original form. It felt so wrong to be anything but the Horned Doe when she was so deep, with the only exception being when she was alone with the Stag. Theirs was such a unique and personal bond, something no one else, Spirit or otherwise could understand. In some moments Sara herself didn't fully comprehend it either. Excitement and nerves danced along Sara's fingertips as she strolled through the grove. 'It needs to be perfect,' she muttered to herself. 'I only get one shot at this.' When she reached the opposite side of the clearing, she'd made up her mind. Sweeping her faintly glowing eyes over the spot helped finalize her

Wheels slowly rolled to a stop as Henry eased his foot onto the break. Flipping the car into park, he drew in a deep breath as he turned to look out the passenger side window. Just beyond the curb lay the house he'd grown up in, sitting as nostalgically innocuous as ever. It was such a familiar sight, one that should be calming. Yet, his heart was racing. And that was all because of the tiny weight leaning against his neck. Renee sat perfectly still as she took in the quaint one-story home. The exterior showed loving care, even if it was a little rough, which radiated a welcoming atmosphere. Her chest tightened up when she realized that she was really going through with this, and even though it was something she wanted, it still gave her pause. "You ready?" Henry murmured, moving just enough to unbuckle his seatbelt. The car had definitely been noticed, so there was no turning back now. A breath hitched in Renee's throat, but she nodded. "Y-Yeah, let's uh, let's go." Henry's

A cool breeze rustled through the leaves over Collin and Trevor's heads, adding to the relief the shade provided. They'd been hiking through the forest for almost an hour, and the hilly terrain was really starting to wear them down. 'Just a little bit further,' Collin assured himself. His feet were dragging through the leaf litter, but the light weight in his breast pocket kept him going. The corner of his mouth perked up, and he set his eyes on the trees still in front of them. 'It'll be well worth the trip.' Pure wonder had had a tight grip on Jay's heart ever since they'd left the fortified borders of Nettles behind. She'd never put much thought into anything outside the strategically secluded town, especially since for most of her life it had been somewhere she was never supposed to reach. The fact that there were so many more towns out there, each filled with infinitely more people, made her stomach drop. She barely belonged in Nettles and was still wildly out of place here in

Even though the idea of willingly going anywhere to visit anyone still gave me chills, I didn't have as hard of a time accepting Hank and Sue's most recent invitation. Kayla and I had made the trip a few times now, but not anywhere nearly as many as I'd need to be actually comfortable there. The overwhelming but familiar presences of the three people I'd lived the longest with post shrinking made it an easier burden to bear, but it was still a burden all the same. A strong breeze gusted past us, pressing me and the pocket up against Kayla's side. Her hand had been gently swinging as she walked, and it lingered by the opening until the wind died down again. Moving oh so subtly her fingers found their way inside, coiling beneath me and gathering me up into the dip of her chilly palm. Handling me was like second nature to her now, and while I would've been bothered by that years ago, knowing the road that had brought us to this point warmed my heart. Every action she took was so