Greywind

There are those who believe life here began out there.

Children shouldn't play with dead things.

“Kate?” “Yeah, Lene?” Kate took a baking sheet out of the oven and set it on the counter. “I'm sorry, Marlene. I didn't think.” Marlene smiled. “It doesn't bother me. Honestly, I've missed it.” Kate smiled back. “Keep on using it if you want. Where's the sketchbook Jason gave you?” Flipping her oven mitts off onto the counter, Kate said, “I'll get it for you. Jason change his mind and want it back?” “No. I just want to look through it for something.” Kate pulled it out from the closed bottom of a book shelf. “Thanks,” Marlene said when Kate handed it to her. Sitting on a stool across from Kate, who was collecting cookies off the baking sheet with a spatula, Marlene began flipping through the sketchbook. She stopped on the picture of Aaron and the nameless girl. “This one is different,” Marlene said. “All the others he did of Aaron has his face scarred. Not this one.” “Yeah,” Kate agreed. “He said he didn't know who she was.” Marlene frowned and shook her head. “No. He said he hadn't met her yet.” “I don't think he would say that now,” Mary said. Aaron was curled up on the couch beside his Nana. Mary rocked gently side-to-side with Sandy in her arms. “If you were to ask him again.” “You mean...?” Marlene said. “Stacy, Jason's mother, I counted her a friend. That picture reminds me of her. And she reminds me of you.”

Keep me hangin' on Set me free why don't you, babe Get out my life why don't you, babe 'Cause you don't really love me You just keep me hangin' on Set me free why don't you, babe Get out my life why don't you, babe (ooh-ooh-ooh) 'Cause you don't really need me But you keep me hangin' on Why do you keep a comin' around Playing with my heart Why don't you get out of my life And let me make a brand-new start Let me get over you The way you've gotten over me, yeah Set me free why don't you, babe Get out my life why don't you, baby (ooh-ooh-ooh) 'Cause you don't really love me You just keep me hangin' on Now you don't really need me You just keep me hangin' on You say although we broke up You still just wanna be friends But how can we still be friends When seeing you only breaks my heart again? (And there ain't nothing I can do about it) Yeah Get out, get out of my life And let me sleep at night 'Cause you don't really love me You just keep me (hangin' on) hangin' on You say you still care for me But your heart and soul needs to be free And now that you've got your freedom You wanna still hold on to me You don't want me for yourself So let me find somebody else Set me free why don't you, babe Get out my life why don't you, babe (ooh-ooh-ooh) 'Cause you don't really love me You just keep me hangin' on Why don't you be a man about it? And set me free (ooh-ooh-ooh) Now you don't care a thing about me You're just using me, hey, abusing me Get out, get out of my life And let me sleep at night (ooh-ooh-ooh) 'Cause you don't really love me You just keep me hangin' on (ooh-ooh-ooh)

Not necessarily true. The players want to play, yes, but not all the players want to take the time to work up a backstory. I had one player give me a lot to work with at one end of the spectrum. At the other I had a player that had a character sheet that just listed abilities. Others fell in the middle. "Why is so much about his character?" "When are you going to start giving me stuff I can work with for your character?"

Pudding!

I've had enough of danger And people on the streets I'm looking out for angels Just trying to find some peace Now I think it's time That you let me know So if you love me Say you love me But if you don't just let me go 'Cause teacher There are things that I don't want to learn And the last one I had Made me cry So I don't want to learn to Hold you, touch you Think that you're mine Because it ain't no joy For an uptown boy Whose teacher has told him goodbye, goodbye, goodbye When you were just a stranger And I was at your feet I didn't feel the danger Now I feel the heat That look in your eyes Telling me no So you think that you love me Know that you need me I wrote the song, I know it's wrong Just let me go And teacher There are things That I don't want to learn Oh the last one I had Made me cry So I don't want to learn to Hold you, touch you Think that you're mine Because it ain't no joy For an uptown boy Whose teacher has told him goodbye, goodbye, goodbye So when you say that you need me That you'll never leave me I know you're wrong, you're not that strong Let me go And teacher There are things That I still have to learn But the one thing I have is my pride Oh so I don't want to learn Hold you, touch you Think that you're mine Because there ain't no joy For an uptown boy Who just isn't willing to try I'm so cold Inside Maybe just one more try

It ain't the way you move It ain't the way that you move me Oh no It ain't the way you shake It ain't the way that you shake me Oh no It's been twenty-five years I'm a kid on the run I've got a pistol for action Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know I love the way you use I love the way that you use me Oh yeah I love the way you shoot I love the way that you shoot to kill me Oh yeah It's taken miles and lines To learn the right from the wrong I'll keep you hanging on So, don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me love me, love me, yeah Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know

I take my card and I stand in line To make a buck I work overtime Dear sir letters keep comin' in the mail I work my back till it's racked with pain The boss can't even recall my name I show up late and I'm docked, it never fails I feel like just another, spoke in a great big wheel Like a tiny blade of grass in a great big field To workers I'm just another drone To Ma Bell I'm just another phone I'm just another statistic on a sheet To teachers I'm just another child To IRS I'm another file I'm just another consensus on the street Gonna cruise outta this city, head down to the sea Gonna shout out at the ocean, hey it's me And I feel like a number, feel like a number Feel like a stranger A stranger in this land, I feel like a number I'm not a number, I'm not a number Damn it I'm a man, I said I'm a man Gonna cruise out of this city, head down to the sea Gonna shout out at the ocean, hey it's me And I feel like a number, feel like a number Feel like a stranger Stranger in this land, feel like a number I'm not a number, I'm not a number Damn it I'm a man, I feel like a number Feel like a number, feel like a number I feel like a... I feel... feel like a... feel like a I feel like a... I feel like a ...I feel like a... I feel like a

And I feel like a number, feel like a number Feel like a stranger Stranger in this land, feel like a number I'm not a number, I'm not a number Damn it I'm a man, I feel like a number Feel like a number, feel like a number

Waking up, Kris realized she was face-down on the bed. It was still dark. Her wings shifted. She smiled and gave them a gentle flap. Her stomach rumbled. Kris was ravenous. “That must be why there was more food on the table.” “Yes,” Jason answered. Kris sat up. Working on his second chicken, Jason had stripped the first down to bones. “It was either more food or MREs or protein packs.” He glanced at her and then stared. “That was totally unexpected.” “What was?” “You still have gray in your hair, but you look about twenty years younger.” Kris grabbed a potato out of the bowl and ate it on the way to the bathroom. In the mirror, she recognized the woman she used to be. “Unreal,” she whispered. Her belly rumbled again. “Save me a chicken.” “Or two,” Jason called back. Kris came back slowly. “How are you doing?” “I dealt,” Jason said, pulling another strip of meat off a chicken. Kris noted her shift draped over the back of a chair. Slipping into it, Kris said, “When you healed me before you took it on yourself. The same with Emily. When you healed Sharon, you blinded yourself for hours. How are you dealing? You don't have wings.” She dropped herself into the chair. “And every nerve ending in my body screamed at me about it,” he said. “I dealt with it.” Kris tore a leg off and bit into it. There were other questions she wanted to ask, but every time her mouth was empty she took another bite of something. Jason got up and scraped food waste off his plate into the waiting bin. He returned to the table for an empty bowl. Then for another plate. By the time he was through, the only plate left on the table was hers and she was picking remnants off the carcass. She didn't realize how much she had eaten or how much time had passed. Standing up, she dumped what was left of the chicken into the bin and passed Jason the plate. “A wipe-down of the table, and I'd say we're done for the night.” When Jason was done washing the last plate, Kris washed her hands and her face. “I'll take a shower in the morning.” Kris nodded. Jason took his shirt off. The negators gleamed in the light of the lantern. Kris carried the lantern to a table near the mattress. She watched while Jason got comfortable. “Something wrong?” he asked. “Still hungry, I guess.” “I pretty much shot my load with six chickens, roasted potatoes, and the beans. Protein bars or MREs are pretty much it until I go out again.” Kris shifted her wings and the shift fell around her feet. “Different kind of hunger.” She crawled on the mattress, straddling Jason. “Don't worry. I'm a doctor. I know what I'm doing.” Her hand grazed him, felt him respond to her, and she smiled. When she leaned in and kissed him, Jason responded to that, too.

Cord Wood Justin Thyme Lots of female names are flowers.

Wonder Woman's daughter.

When I'm down I make a call Got the number written on the wall First it's busy then I try again Oh, who's she talking to, could it be him? I got the number and it starts to ring I get excited and I start to dream I start to fantasize of memory lane Then she answers and she says right way She says "I'm home on my own, home all alone" So I got off the phone She's tight She's ahead of her time She's tight She's one of a kind She's tight She's a talented girl She's tight She's got her head down tight I have something got to say to you Amnesia and my train of thought On the tip, the tip of my tongue I had a vision when I was young You floated in, we floated up Through the window and down the hall I had a smoke and went upstairs Turned the door and opened the key She spoke "I'm on my own, home all alone" So I got off the phone She's tight She's ahead of her time She's tight She's one of a kind She's tight She's a talented girl She's tight She's got her head down tight She's tight She's giving me the go She's tight She's giving me the high sign She's tight We'll turn off the lights She's tight Pull down the shades She's nice, she's tight Turn on the cam'ra She's nice, she's tight And getting ready for action She's nice, she's tight She's nice, she's tight Turn off the radio She's nice, she's tight She's nice, she's tight Turn on the video She's nice, she's tight She's giving me the go She's nice, she's tight She's giving me the high sign She's nice, she's tight We'll turn off the lights She's nice, she's tight Pull down the shades She's nice, she's tight Turn on the cam'ra

Standing in front of a cracked mirror, Kris toweled her hair dry. It had felt good to have Trese and Aaron at dinner. Even Melner and Kira. Sharing old memories, remembering absent friends. If only Elyse could have made it. They were Guardians again. Still. Hanging her towel up, Kris turned and flicked off the light. She made her way down the hall, back to the open room that was whatever room it needed to be at any given time. Sitting room, dining room, meeting room, bedroom. Jason had turned off all the lights except one lantern. The blackout curtains were open, allowing a cool breeze to blow in. The table, instead of being cleared of the remnants of their meal, held more food. Four more roasted chickens. More potatoes. “I thought you were going to put stuff away. Not add to it.” By the light of the lantern, Jason was flipping through one of his sketchbooks. Kris noted the absence of his pencil. “Did you mean what you said? That you want to be a part of it?” “Yes. You heard Trese. I'd be in the way.” “Not necessarily.” He looked up at her and closed the book. Kris saw her name on the cover. “I want to try something if you're willing.” “What?” Curiosity touched with... Excitement? Nervousness? Maybe a little of both, Kris decided. Jason turned. The book disappeared from his hand. “Last Christmas... The Christmas before you yanked me here, I gave Sharon her sight back.” “I remember,” Kris whispered. Her mind churned with the implications. “It will hurt. I need to reopen the wound. I can't heal the stump, but if I have a fresh wound to deal with, maybe it will work.” As a surgeon, Kris understood the necessity of cutting away the bad to let new growth take place. “Do it,” she said quietly. Jason nodded. “Stand or lay?” “I plan on sleeping on that mattress,” she said. “I don't want to have to clean blood out of it first.” Turning her back, Kris braced her arms on the table. Jason moved the shoulder of her shift to the side. It slid down, caught by her wrist. “Sorry,” Jason said. Kris flipped it off her hand. The entire shift fell to the floor. “I lost my modesty a long time ago.” “I'm sorry for that,” he said quietly. Kris smiled over her shoulder. “Planning on having your way with me?” Sliding his hand over her belly, Jason hugged her gently. “Yes.” A leather strap appeared. Jason placed it against her mouth. Kris accepted it and bit down to hold it in place. “I am sorry that I will hurt you again.” Kris nodded. Then she screamed into the strap.

If you ever read Corum, Goffanon was a dwarf. A dwarf giant, but a dwarf nonetheless.

Irish made small adjustments to the image she was scanning. “Ooch.” “Something wrong?” Jordan asked her. “Wainwright. The man was an absolute genius. The way Archie's wetware joins with the biological elements, it's fascinating.” Jordan nodded, agreeing with her. “The man was broken upstairs. Imagine the things he could have done if he were on the right side of things. As much as I hate to agree with it, I think Jason did the right thing calling that nuke in.” “You really think that?” “Aye, Love. I do. Wainwright would have just gotten worse over the years.” Rocking back in her chair, Irish put her head back. “I honestly ha'e no idea if this can even be reversed. An' from what Archie said, it was all automated. It's like the man was using lasers when the rest of medical science was knocking holes in peoples skulls to let the demons out.”

Steveston isn't the boonies, Ms. McFarland. It's the sticks... right before the boonies.

I Have a Dream, a song to sing To help me cope, with anything If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale You can take the future, even if you fail I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream I Have a Dream, a fantasy To help me through, reality And my destination, makes it worth the while Pushin' through the darkness, still another mile I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream I Have a Dream, a song to sing To help me cope, with anything If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale You can take the future, even if you fail I believe in angels Something good in everything I see I believe in angels When I know the time is right for me I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream

There are moments in your life when everything crystallizes and the whole world reshapes itself right down to its component molecules. And everything changes. I have looked upon the face of a Vorlon... Laurel. And nothing is the same anymore.

Tamlyn Tomita

What do you call a wreath made of $100 bills? There is. It's in the A-hole.

Some free advice. You ever get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it. Hoard it like it's made of gold. Because it is.

Kudzu?