I don’t regret pushing you into the fountain that one time when we first met.

Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Current Date: April 24, 2058

Character: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 96, physically about 28
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
 

---

One of the very first things we taught the kids once they were old enough—my brothers have done the same, I know—is that violence is not an option. It’s in our blood. It’s in theirs. It might be diluted some, but it’s in there and while it’s not necessarily violence in itself, it still is something that leads to strife and, well, the rest is possibly history.

Thinking back, I’d like to believe that none of us really had issues, not terrible ones. All of the kids eventually had to go and get their chips upgraded at one point or another, though it’s more our own siblings than our kids who had bigger issues—less diluted genes. All in all, at this point, I don’t know that any of us are still on the old system. No more chipped jewellery. Like everyone else, it’s a single chip and in the case of some, that chip has a few more functions attached to it.

I was watching one of the old videos we have of one of the countless family gatherings we’ve had. All of our kids were born in this one, ranging from still in diapers to moody and non-moody teens. The camera went from one pair of hands to another, and I think everyone is in this video. Parents, siblings, partners, kids, cousins. It was a huge gathering. A hot summer day, a lot of food, and plenty of games to be had.

At one point in the video, some of the kids are playing near one of the fountains that we’d temporarily set up. It was part of the water games, means of keeping everyone cooled if they didn’t want to be misted on, or if they didn’t want to waddle in the pools. It was fairly large, and the water was kept cool by a system that, while I do understand it, still baffles me to a point.

Now, in the video, there’s a lot of splashing going on around the fountain but it’s hard to tell why. There are so many people and there isn’t really a clear shot of the fountain itself; it’s really more in the background than not.

I’m not the one who went to deal with the situation that developed over there, I do remember that much. I recall Charles heading over—I can see him doing that much in the video too—and I recall that some kids got into timeout about it all. Something about having no regret about having pushed another one of the kids into the fountain. Now, at that point, I hadn’t witnessed it, and I was only given a barebone story afterwards when we were cleaning things up.

I’m not even sure who did the pushing—since I do just faintly recall that several kids ended up in that brief timeout—and who got pushed. It was clearly some of the younger ones and I’m sure that, at that point, they thought that their reason was plenty valid, but I suppose that the rest is history. It isn’t as though we could do anything about it all by the end. They’d done their evil, they’d been set in timeout to think about their wrongdoing and that was mostly that.

It wasn’t as though we could have just forced everyone to go home because a couple of kids were misbehaving. That’s not how family gatherings are supposed to go. At least, that’s certainly not how our family gatherings go. If anyone else does it otherwise, that’s on them and I don’t care to know.

Thinking back on it, I honestly feel as though this was the only time that we’d ever had the fountain set up for everyone. It was something we were trying on that particular summer and while it could have been anything else and kids could have gotten into trouble nonetheless, we didn’t put it up the following year, or the year after that. We kept to the slip and slides, we kept to the misters and sprinklers, and there were a few shady spots as needed but nothing with a lot of water to sit into.

Some of these gatherings feel a little bittersweet. Watching these videos, I find myself catching glimpses of things I hadn’t noticed before; little things that change my perspective on how I saw other things up until now. Not that it changes much in the grand scheme of things. These are old videos, even if I were to do anything about the things that happened back then, what good would it do anyone? It was so long ago, after all. There’s no need to rehash these things that happened in the past. It’s best to let it go, even if I feel as though they could have been handled differently.

Final Word Count: 802

A bad plan is still a plan. It’s better than nothing, which is what you have.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 94, physically about 28
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
Final Word Count: 714 words
 

---

As I look at the overturned tree in the yard, I can’t help but be reminded of a scene like that from my childhood. Though I suppose it might have been closer to our teens. I know we’d already left the place we’d called home up until that point and we were just roaming. We were pretty aimless but I recall that we came upon this road at one point that we wanted to keep walking on but there had been this huge rockslide and other than climbing right over the whole thing, it was impassable.

I knew we needed a plan but the only thing any of us could figure out was climbing over it, but little rocks still were almost lazily tumbling down the pile. We all knew it was a bad plan, the whole thing could just shift and take all of us down with it. It still was better than no plan at all, but it certainly wasn’t great.

I know we made it over but I’m not sure how we went about it. I recall that we didn’t backtrack, we couldn’t exactly afford to. I suppose it doesn’t really matter at this point but the sight of this old, felled tree brings back these memories.

It crushed its way through both sides of our fences, destroyed several smaller trees and shrubs on the way down but it hasn’t hurt anyone and anything that did get destroyed are things that can be replaced. We will plant new trees and new bushes, but first, we’ll have to deal with the tree and fix up the fences. I try to take this sight with a grain of salt, I had planned on getting the whole fence replaced this summer, it was old and worn down. I hadn’t expected for the project to be expedited this way.

I’m pretty sure that a good chunk of the yard is going to have to be partially dug up, flattened out and seeded again. For years, I had thought about settling a sort of fountain set up near the side of the fence and I’m glad that I hadn’t had it done last summer as I had thought. So many other plans took root on that summer that it settled on the back burner.

This tree, I’m pretty sure it was several hundreds of years old. It had been a pretty chunky size when we first settled here, and it had been growing since. I know, however, that it had been struck by lightning two summers back, but it had still been deemed healthy and strong. I’d heard it begin to crack last winter and I had expected it to possibly drop but I hadn’t thought it would drop in our direction. Our yard or Charles and Onyx’s own, I don’t know that it would have changed much. Though I know how their yard is set up and the tree had been much closer to my end of the property than his, still.

What’s done is done.

We’ll probably make a gathering out of it. Get everyone working on the beast, try to cut it down to pieces and check to see because I’m pretty sure there are plenty around that might want slices of this thing to work with. The inside isn’t looking so great, though, parts of it are probably rotted through but we’ll get to it when we do.

Honestly, at this point, I’m just glad that no one was hurt when it fell. I should have known that this was it when we had a minor quake overnight. Woke me right up but once it settled and there seemed to be nothing else attached, I didn’t think much of it. Why would I have? It’s not as though earthquakes are common but there are systems in place and if something really dangerous had been happening, the system would have let me—us—know.

Nature is terrifying, at times. I know that we’ll work out way through this without much of an issue. We’ll be all right in the long run, and it really is just an extra excuse to finally change the yard about in the way we’d been half planning for the last couple of years. It’s just one of those things.

Before you meet my friends, I kindly ask that you put the wings away.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 93, physically about 28
Final Word Count: 664 words
 

---

I was looking through old photos lately; I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic though I would never mention it might get me weird looks to mention I might actually miss changing the kids’ diapers. I’m the weird one, I know. It just was one of those things. After a life of chaotic messes coming one after the other, even once we were chipped, it felt just so stupidly, soothingly normal to be changing diapers. Like I was finally a little normal. Not that I might want to go back to changing diapers as it was an assault on the nose now and again but it still, weirdly enough, soothed my frayed nerves.

While looking at the photos of one particular birthday party, I remembered listening to Blake tell this one story when the kids were just so much younger, it still brings a smile to my face. I don’t know that any of my kids has ever had imaginary friends; if they had, they didn’t really mention them but I guess that it’s not such a bad thing.

I think Rachel might have been five or six at that point and as their youngest, I guess maybe it makes sense that she had imaginary friends? Anyway. With the settling change in our lives, I admit that most of us no longer really hide our differencing features. Most of the time, I even sleep with my wings out. It’s taken some adjusting but it just feels normal to have them out now.

So there’s little Rachel, having a spot of play-tea and cakes in the backyard and there goes Blake checking in on her but as he steps in closer to her little table, she looks up to him and turns her nose up a little but her smile is beaming and in the most eloquent he’d ever heard her up until that point, she tells him that before he meets her friend, she, and those were her words—through his retelling—asked him to kindly put the wings away.

He gave me this baffled look as he was recounting the story and I couldn’t help but be amused myself because that sounded just like such a prim and proper princess thing to say. So sure, he willed the wings away and he got to meet like four or five of her little imaginary friends. Most were toys, but one wasn’t. There was one empty chair but that also seemed to be the chair of honour. All in all, his story was sweet. I still don’t think any of mine ever had imaginary friends; if they had, that’s fine; I think it’s a healthy thing to have when you’re growing up if you really need it.

Looking at these photos and videos, they always bring such a sense of calm over me. Our lives weren’t all sunshine and rainbows after the dark years and even after we’d first met the guys, it wasn’t always easy. I think most of us really did start to settle down with kids and I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s such an experience to hold such a tiny little thing in your arms and be reminded that yes, that little bundle of happiness is part of you and will grow up and cause you no end of worrying and just, you’ll love them unconditionally no matter what.

Would I do my whole life over if I had to? Sure. Would I change anything in it? Maybe a couple of things but only if it wouldn’t impact how things turned out so, I guess, that in a way, I wouldn’t actually want to change anything because I absolutely love my life the way it is now. It might not be perfect and I might feel a little grumpy on some mornings, but it’s as perfect as it will ever be and that’s all I really do need. That and my hubby up close and personal during most quiet moments.

My mission in life is to read every single book this library has to offer.

 
Timeline/World: Atheria – 1st Generation
Characters: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 92, physically about 28
Final Word Count: 576 words
 

---

When we first—well, no, when I first—met this guy, I thought he was really interesting but the more I spoke to him, the more I realized he was probably a little crazy in the head. Not that this ‘crazy’ showed at all, not physically but it was in the way he used to talk, in the things he said, in how he reacted to certain things.

I didn’t really know about mental illnesses back then, we were just twelve or so and we were just trying to make it through each day so we could see the next sunrise. Our birth and the first two or so decades of our lives were far from sunshine, rainbows and lollipops but we made do with what we had. We had each other and that’s more or less all that counted.

People used to avoid us as much as they could. They called us ‘clones’ behind our backs because we were identical in ways that I’m sure isn’t all that common with four kids. I wish I could say five but Eska never actually survived birth, spent time in hell and was reborn. Eska is a little crazy in the head but a sibling nonetheless. Just not around while we were growing up.

The old guy, he was homeless, I’m pretty sure. He was usually camped out not far from the library and I crossed his path—we all did—as we roamed during the summers, he was a little harder to spot during the rest of the year. Once I did stop to talk to him, my brothers gave us a whole lot of room because they didn’t trust him. I was probably the only one who talked to him.

He once told me that his mission in life was to read every single book the library had to offer. I thought he was awesome for wanting to do something like that but in the long run, I think it was his excuse so he could have a roof over his head most of the time. I’m pretty sure the library took pity and fed him almost every day. In a way, and this is something I only learned much later in life, she was enabling him.

He had knowledge, he wasn’t crippled, I’m sure that if he’d truly wanted, he could have found a job somewhere. Since the library was feeding him and all, it just made sense that he didn’t want to try. Not that I gave that much thought when I was a kid.

The more I stopped and talked to him, the less he made sense, though. Eventually, after a couple of years, I stopped altogether because he wouldn’t even talk to me. He called me Devil’s child. That one had a bite to it that I wasn’t ready to accept. We didn’t know what we were, not at first. That came much later in our lives. Our mother probably wouldn’t have known what to make of us either so I suppose it’s just one of those things.

Looking back to how things were when I was young, I’m actually surprised we’ve made it this far, we made it to our father, to the man who didn’t even know about us. We made a life for ourselves, we’d found companionship, hell broke loose, darkness mended itself and now, well now we’re all happier than I think we ever imagined we could be.

Did the chef just insult me?

Timeline/World: Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 90, physically about 29
Final Word Count: 511 words

---

Back before the big break apart, the four of us, my siblings and myself, were mock-paired with a set of young twins. I think, for the most part, we mostly were there for one another as brothers more than anything else. Sure, we went out on not-quite dates, the six of us at a restaurant or just four, or three. It was a mishmash of people getting together and coming apart again.

On one particular not-really-date, all six of us were seated at this comfortable little sort of family restaurant, at a table just out of the way since most tables were for four but they’d manage to find us a spot for all six of us. I remember looking the menu over, trying to decide on which item really appealed to me the most but for the most part, the style of the food items wasn’t really appealing. At least not at that point and I think it might have had more to do with the heat because it was Greek food and I’m very fond of that kind of food most of the time.

Finally, I thought I’d found a dish I was sure I could manage to stomach and as the waiter came to take care of our orders, I asked for the particular dish but I made a small request that certain ingredients be omitted if at all possible. The waiter merely smiled that bright smile of his took note of everything and went back to the kitchen.

It took some time for the plates to come out, three of the six of us have taken the same item, the one I’d requested and when the plate sat in front of me, the waiter gave me a sheepish smile and shrug of his shoulder. It made me look at the two other plates also on the table… and made me notice that not only were the items I’d requested still on there, but by the looks of things, they’d been heaped on because my protein was pretty much unseen under the whole thing whereas the other two plates did look like prettily plated things.

I didn’t eat, of course. Just the sight of so many wet and mushy bell peppers cut my appetite to none. I refused to pay for that particular plate and never again went back. I know my brothers have, once or twice, because the food was good when the chef was not being a complete asshole but I couldn’t bring myself to.

I suppose that if I had mentioned that I didn’t want these on my plate because of allergies, things would have been different but I don’t have an allergy to them. I just don’t like the taste of them when they’re cooked and it hardly was my fault if the chef had a bad day prior to our arrival. I took the whole thing as an insult and it was enough to put me off of the thing and never want to go back there ever again.

Overcast

Timeline/World: Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Adrian Storm
Race: Halfling – Demon / Strife
Age: 90, physically about 28
Final Word Count: 532 words

---

He squinted out the window a moment before breathing out a half-sigh. It was the first day in about a week he felt well enough to do more than shuffle through their home or stay in bed and the cloudy sky that met him told him he wouldn’t be going very far, despite that he craved even just a small chance at a breath of fresh air.

His sinuses were finally clear enough that he could breathe normally as well and that was a plus, just now. The last five days had been a series of too short nights from being unable to sleep on his back and exhausted days from being unable to find sleep with any light just peeking through anywhere. Spending his time up in their bedroom had just seemed counterproductive because staying in bed, unmoving, was very far away from what he did like to do with his days, even when he felt somewhat under the weather.

On the first day, it was exactly what he’d done however, he’d been so congested that he hadn’t even been able to make it out of bed and his muscles had ached so bad that even just turning to empty his stomach in the lined bin that had been sat next to his side of the bed had been difficult.

Adrian stared out into the grey skies a moment longer, lips ticking down into a soft frown. Any moment now the rain would begin to fall, this he could tell without so much as being aware of any weather patterns. Still, he’d made so many plans to make up for the past weeks that he hadn’t been sure where he would have started but it was clear now that anything he’d wanted to do outside was going to wait.

Breathing out a half-hearted grumble, he let the curtains fall again and turned his gaze to the bed. A bit more rest would have been nice but he ached from resting too much at this point and getting his muscles back in quick responding order was important. Shaking his head, he moved towards the bathroom, stretching carefully as he went and got the shower going, aware that this first step would set the pacing for the rest of the day.

He took his shower steaming hot to clear up the rest of his chest and will away the pains that lingered. He kept it short, just long enough to appreciate it and get himself washed thoroughly before he was out, drying himself and putting on some clothes that would keep him warm enough on the surprisingly wet and chilly day. No point in tempting fate and getting sick again now that he was on his feet finally.

The sky had only gotten darker by the time he had made it to the kitchen for a small breakfast and he resigned himself to really sticking inside, not that he wanted to but dealing with any part of the yard would likely have resulted in getting wet, and getting a chill now that he was out of bed was out of the question.

So inside it would be, much to his dismay.