original-stories

Tomb Stone - Bloody Woman

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:36:37 +0100

Fingers brush lightly over the smooth marble, words freshly carved, dated not even a week. There’s a sound behind her, and she turns, looks into a tired, weathered face.

“Come on,” he whispers, smiling faintly. “I could use the company. It’s cold out here.”

“You got soup?” she asks the other European. “I like soup.”

“I know you do.” He reaches out, grabs the youthful woman’s hand. She allows him to lead her away. He’s just over sixty, but he looks younger than that. Has taken care of himself. “I have soup, somewhere.”

“Kiddo...” She stops, and when he looks at her, smiles sadly. “Where’s your lover?”

Tawny eyes blink at her in bemusement. “Ah... I’ve lost him.”

And with that, they walk away, leaving behind the headstone, and the memories. She pretends to be dead. He thinks about life.

And the marble speaks for both.

Christoph
Best friend, lover, brother

Stalking Sydney - Bloody Woman - Phantom Pain - Waiting

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:25:23 +0100

Kai paced anxiously back and forth in the waiting room. His hands rubbed against each other, fingers aching from the repetitive movement, but he couldn’t stop. He was so worried. Mother had been in there for so long....

His gaze slid to the side as he passed by the silent man sitting in a chair. The man didn’t look at him. He didn’t even really appear to know why they were here. Baka ningen, Kai grumbled mentally.

As if hearing his thoughts, Sosuke Watanari looked up. “Kai, sit down,” he mumbled. “Emiko will be done soon.”

They hadn’t even let Sosuke in, but Kai didn’t blame them. None of them had expected this complication.

Kai continued to pace. Okaasan... His beloved mother. Pregnant for eight and a half months, currently giving birth to Kai’s new baby sister. The twelve year old was more nervous than any of them, too. He’d wanted to try the protection spell, but Mother had said no. It would only upset his father.

The young witch-in-training scoffed. Upset his father. His pathetic, normal father, who had only recently found out about the family gifts. Who had been furious and shoved the pregnant Emiko down the stairs.

The rage festered. Kai hated him, Sosuke. Hated. He’d never felt so much anger directed toward a single person before. A possessiveness had risen when his mother hadn’t gotten up, something that Kai had never displayed before.

“Don’t just stand there, aho! Call 911!”

And then the frantic ride to the hospital (Kai had ridden with Emiko; Sosuke drove afterward).

Step, step, step, step, turn.

“Kai. You’re going to wear a hole into the floor,” Sosuke said.

“Don’t you talk to me,” Kai snarled back, face flushed with fury.

Sosuke didn’t speak again, and Kai continued to pace. Until the doctor came and told them Emiko and his baby sister were alright. The doctor brought Sosuke and Kai to see them, but Kai wouldn’t let Sosuke near her. Threatened under his breath to turn Sosuke into an obakemono, and trap him in a jar.

Sosuke stayed back, eventually left. They wouldn’t see him again.

Emiko named the girl Tsuki, after the moon, after luck. “She is our lucky moon.”

Bloody Woman - Leap of Faith

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:20:10 +0100

Svorak didn’t know how they’d gotten themselves into this mess. How could they be this stupid? “Fuck, get out of there, Tiger! Hurry up!” It was followed by the ominous sounds of the dark man’s pursuers shouting.

The voice in his ear wasn’t helping. “Yeah,” he said, racing up the stairs.

“I’m upstairs. Can you get to me? We’ll face ‘em together... or something.” It was never a good thing when Christoph started to run out of ideas. “The roof.”

“Coming,” the dark man grunted, and fell silent until he slammed open the roof door. The com crackled as Christoph’s pale visage came into view dead ahead.

The blond hurried over with a crowbar. “Hey kiddos.” A familiar drawl, so knee-weakeningly welcome in his ear.

Svorak grabbed the crowbar and stuffed it through the door handle, and a half-broken padlock base. “Hey Lady,” Christoph said quickly from behind him.

“East side of the roof. Jump. The river is plenty deep enough.”

“Are you out of your goddamn mind!” Svorak burst out, feeling the blood drain from his face.

Even so, Christoph was already heading in the ordered direction. Arana chuckled. “Should I answer that now or after you guys get back? It’s only the third floor.”

“Only she says,” the ex-army merc growled, jogging after his lover.

“See you, kiddo,” she said.

“Fuck.” Svorak ripped out his earpiece and tossed it over the roof.

Christoph grabbed his shoulder briefly, giving a reassuring squeeze. And then they jumped.

Bloody Woman - Christmas Spirit

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:29:01 +0100

The early hours were always the hardest to wake up in. And the first Christmas the Boys spent in Arana’s vicinity was the worst.

Five AM, there was a loud thumping on their door, and Svorak actually fell out of bed, while Christoph groaned and covered his face with Svorak’s abandoned pillow. Outside the door, Arana was beaming widely. “Wake up, lads! It’s Christmas!”

“Uhg,” Svorak said eloquently from the floor.

“Go back to bed,” Christoph said, voice muffled.

There was a pause. “Alright! I’ll go start breakfast!”

The brief memory of the last hotel they’d stayed in drifted over both of them. Eventually, the fire department had managed to put out the flames. And now Arana was audibly padding away from the door.

“No!” Svorak yelped, scrambling up. However, his legs were somewhat tangled in the sheets (which had fallen off the bed with him) and he almost fell flat on his face. Almost. There was something to be said for mercenary reflexes. Mercs didn’t fall on their faces.

Christoph was already up and scrambling into clothing when Svorak managed to untangle himself and get up. Ergo, the blond ran from the room first. He tripped into the kitchen and paused. Eyes landed on the small table, then moved to the woman fussing with the coffee pot. Then focused on Drai, whom was sipping from a Dunkin Donuts cup. Then back to the table, where two large boxes of donuts rested.

Honey eyes narrowed at the woman when she gave him a knowing smirk. “That is playing dirty, Lady,” he said, pouting.

“Christmas,” she retorted.

“Holy crap,” came from somewhere behind him. “Chris- Arana, where’d you get all this?!”

The blond blinked and meandered back into the living room (which he had previously rushed through blindly). There was the tiny tree Arana had talked Svorak into getting last week, and then the empty stockings she’d bullied Christoph into buying. And the candy canes tucked into them that Drai had bought before she could ask.

And, beneath the tree, scattered over the coffee table, under it and around it, were dozens of presents. Most - that he could see - were addressed to Drai, Christoph and Svorak.

When had she gotten all of this? And where?

“Donuts?” Drai peeked into the living room, holding one of the boxes and smiling.

The darker male shook his head, staring at the mound with something almost like awe. “Geez, I haven’t had nearly this many presents since I was a kid,” he muttered. “And not even then. Lady, where are you?”

“Kitchen,” came her voice, sounding very amused.

“No donuts then. Oh well, more for me,” Drai said, then pouted when Svorak stole the box on his way in. “Damn.”

The blond wandered over to the presents, sitting down on the couch. He leaned forward and lifted one addressed to him. It was small, wrapped in metallic green paper, with a big bow on top. And enough tape to keep a mummy together. He grinned fondly. Apparently cooking wasn’t the only thing their woman was bad at.

“No opening presents yet!” Arana yelped, rushing over to snatch it away and glare at him. “Not till after breakfast! Go get cleaned up. Go on, get up and go wash your face. You look like you just had a bitch fight with the sandman.”

The blond blinked, gave her an amused smile and obliged. “Yes, yes, of course, mother,” he drawled teasingly.

“No lip from you!” she yelled after him, but there was laughter in her voice.

When he returned from the bathroom, he noted with amusement that Svorak had managed to escape the same treatment and was smirking at an irritated Arana. Drai was sparkling almost, thus the lack of Arana-sized wrath upon his head.

“You should take a picture, it lasts longer,” Svorak drawled after a beat.

Arana shook her fist at him before snatching the donuts out of his hands. He let her. Huffing, she set it back on the table and forced everyone to drink some orange juice before leading the procession into the living room.

She stole the comfortable chair. “Alright, you can open ‘em now,” she said, sipping her cup of coffee.

“Shall we take turns, mother?” Drai asked sweetly.

The glare she leveled at him didn’t appear to affect him very much. Christoph chuckled and picked up the present she’d stolen from him earlier. The other two quickly followed his example, and soon enough the men were poking through the pile, making a mess with the paper, and cursing over the stupid amount of tape. (Svorak eventually gave up and got out his pocket knife)

Half an hour passed in no time. Drai pulled a stunt with one of his presents, sniffing it, feeling it and shaking it, and declared it socks. It was. After that, it became a game, with all of them trying to guess what the presents were before opening them, and in no time, Arana was laughing so hard she had to put down her coffee.

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s a... sweatshirt. Yay!”

Finally, Svorak stopped. “Hm. Things seem to be a bit uneven here...”

His lover perked up, smiling widely. “You’re right! I should go get those...” He got up, beaming, and left.

Blinking as she watched him go, the brunette was wondering what was up. She turned to give her other boy a look. He just grinned and got up too. “You got any, Drai?”

“Mmhm.” The third male practically jogged from the room.

Minutes passed, and when they returned, they were holding a handful of presents, which they dropped in Arana’s lap. Her eyes widened slightly, then lifted. Svorak shrugged. “Didn’t think you were the only one being sneaky, did you? Now hurry up. We have ice skating in twenty minutes.”

The smile on her face made all the trouble worth it.

Bloody Woman - Omake Theatre - Poker Night

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:28:29 +0100

Shinji walks to center stage, where there is a large white board. He picks up a marker, and scrawls something in kanji. Then, beneath it, he writes, “Bloody Woman Omake Theatre” and “Poker Night”

~.~.~.~

Arana was not, is not and would never be allowed to play with the guys during Poker Night. They made the mistake once, and they would never, ever, ever do so again.

Black witches - male, female or hermaphrodite - cheat. Extensively. Or exclusively, in the Lady’s case.

It was a night not long after the Boys convinced her to stay. The rain was falling outside harder than it seemed possible. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, and Medic suggested Poker.

Since no one had anywhere to be (and it was raining like someone upstairs forgot to turn off the faucet), they all agreed. Poker? Good idea. So they got together, broke out chips and alcohol (and chocolate), and Medic dealt the first hand.

Arana won. They all shrugged (Beginner’s luck, Svorak figured; Lady’s luck, Christoph thought; Goddammit, Medic mentally grumbled) and the next hand was dealt.

Arana won. Very good beginner’s luck, Svorak amended hopefully. Christoph just resolved to watch the woman. And Medic... “Fuck.”

The next hand was dealt- “Okay, how the hell’re you doing it!?” Medic burst out. Arana had won again.

The brunette blinked at him innocently. “Doing it? Doing what, kiddo?” she asked. She was actually thinking about breaking out a cigarette for the next game; just because it amused her.

“The winning! And- and the winning! Every round!” he blustered.

“Sit.”

“Errrgg...” The man sat down, glowering at her. She just broke out a cigarette, and the game continued.

Next three rounds, Arana lost. Then she won again. And again. And- “Alright, I saw that, Lady, and that is cheating!” Svorak snapped. Mystics.

“Erm...” Christoph blinked at his cards. Hadn’t he just been holding three Aces? He frowned at the Lady of the group, and looked at Svorak. “What is she doing?”

“She’s cheating!” Medic announced, almost victoriously.

Arana yawned, putting out her cigarette. “Yep.”

They were all dumbfounded into silence. She wasn’t going to deny it? Wasn’t that what usually happened...? “That’s it?” Svorak asked after a beat.

“Yes.” She smiled, picked up her newly won money and left to buy a new carton of cigarettes.

They just gaped after her, for three... two... one-

“Hey! That’s my money!” Medic yelled, and ran after her.

Bloody Woman - Phantom Pain - Fan Club

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:26:35 +0100

Kai stifled a yawn as he meandered down the street. No point in driving to the store, since there was a Wal-Mart literally five blocks away from his gym. It was a nice day, though, so the walk wasn’t horrible. The sun was out. There was a pleasant breeze. School was still in session so there were no kids making a nuisance of themselves...

The only problem was that he was being followed. There might be giggling involved, but that sounded like some sort of car repeatedly crashing against a pole.

Hm. That was a bad description. The car was not crashing against a pole. It was running over a cat. Repeatedly.

Sighing, he stopped and turned his head, but like the last eight times... nothing. Yes, he was keeping count. He frowned.

This had happened ever since he’d volunteered to help Syd with the cafe last week, and Chang had come in. Bugging them. About Ruby. Long story short, he started to make Sydney uncomfortable, Kai got pissed... and hypnotized him into obeying the witch’s every word. Like a doll. A Chang-shaped doll.

There was the flash of a camera, leaving dots in Kai’s eyes, and he blinked. “What?”

“Can I have your autograph?”

Kai finally managed to see past the blinking lights in his eyes, and stared. At Chang’s bodyguards. Plural.

“Oh dear.”

Bloody Woman - Unspoken

Thu, 03 May 2012 04:25:34 +0100

It was something that went unsaid between the three of them. A statement, maybe. A feeling, an emotion. A truth. An unspoken caring, a bond that kept them together.

Her fingers folded over a pale hand, her eyes trained on a dark sleeping, newly mangled face. She would give them her company, while her lover slept in another room. She would be here for them. Her Boys. Her children that were not her children.

And the truth would hang heavy and unspoken, because it was the truth, and the truth was always the hardest said. Especially when it was the scariest feeling, the most heartbreaking of emotions.

And still, now, before and ever more, Arana would give her Boys her love.

Bloody Woman - Burning Candles - Falling Further

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:27:36 +0100

Her eyes were closed, the wind whipping her hair about her face and head. It was terrifying, and beautiful. Her gut clenched, and her fingers uncurled from the bars of the balcony. She barely felt the rush of air, cool on her tear-stained cheeks. Didn’t open her eyes to watch the world rush up to grab her.

Her heart ached. Her sister was a corpse in the ground, her nephew dead before he’d even been born. Charles, Lucy’s husband, had named the boy Alexander James Carpenter.

“I don’t understand what happened. I don’t understand, Elizabeth... How did Lucy get so sick? How?” Pale fingers clutched her shoulders, digging in through the fabric of her dress. “I don’t understand...” Dark eyes overflowed, spilling anguished tears down his cheeks.

She hadn’t been able to answer.

It was all her fault. And now Lucy was dead. And the ground caught her.

It was the day she learned that she could never follow in her sister’s footsteps.