What can I say? I have a weakness for people who can lift me over their heads.

Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Hopeful Beginnings
Current Date: May 5, 2029

Character: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 28
Current residence: Klahanie, Washington
 

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Recently, we’ve had a wave of newcomers that seem to have adopted the self-defence class as a flirting ground and I don’t know what to make of it. It’s mostly women, though some men have been following what I can only see as some sort of trend, and it just frustrates the hell out of me. We’ve never actually denied access to the classes to anyone, but we’ve started having to ask people their reasons for joining.

Along with this new trend, there have been some who have tried to film the whole class, either to just show off or something else and that, too, we’ve had to put down some rules for. I really don’t get it. Some will do this live broadcast thing even before they step into the class and it’s not a great thing. Many of the people in the class—especially the ones who come to learn to defend themselves so they can keep themselves safe—don’t care for the idea of being in someone’s livestream. Quite a few of our students in one particular class are with us without the knowledge of others around them.

At first, we just asked people to respect the rules of the place. No cellphones, no cameras, no filming, no photos. People didn’t seem to care to follow those rules, so we had to go a step further. While we can’t stop photos from being taken, those who had taken to streaming their classes live now find themselves unable to. At least, that’s what I got from Alexandro when I asked him for a solution.

Something about scrambling signals and how they can try to live stream all they want, they won’t get any signal out, or something’s going to be blocked or other and well, all in all, it’s not a perfect solution but it works. I’m sure might find ways around it—recording what they’re doing and uploading it later—but my brother states that even that will require more effort than they might wish to put into the whole trend. I’m this close to just asking people to drop their phones into a naughty box at the beginning of each class, I swear.

The worst offender to this new trend—she came once, the second time she tried to come inside, she was turned away, but we did reimburse her for the class she’d paid for—was a young woman who couldn’t have been older than nineteen, maybe twenty-one at the very most. She came in on her own to register and told us that she was just curious about the class but when she came back a few hours later to that first class, it was with a bag full of equipment. Camera, ring light, tripod, everything. She set herself up in a corner while neither one of us was in the room as we were greeting others.

She’d even started her little spiel by the time we’d come into the room with the last student and, let me tell you, most of our students were keeping a sharp distance from her. I’m the one who ended up cutting her off mid-sentence—something about how she had a weakness for people who could lift her over their head—and I told her that there was no filming to be had in the room. She gave me this disbelieving look, turned back to the camera, and started talking at it again—which led me to believe she was live already—and I just went to unplug her stuff. It was after that incident that I turned to my brother for some help.

The woman in question claimed she’d sue us for one reason or another and I think I didn’t even really bother with reminding her that the paperwork she’d signed when she’d registered clearly stated that there would be no filming, photo-taking, or anything of the sort done in the room where the class was taking place and that we would have been in the right to have her just flat out arrested. Surprisingly, she stayed for most of the class, but she didn’t really follow along, she just stared at one particular man, and I think things just sort of fell into place for me at that point, as far as her presence was concerned.

I mean, what does having a weakness for someone who can lift her over their head have to do with coming into a self-defence class? Nothing, that’s what. Until, yeah, I realized that the guy she’d probably joined for was a bit on the bulkier side, but just barely. He spent a lot of time in the gym itself, but he did have a fairly bad habit of working himself into absolute exhaustion. He’s the type of person who’ll keep to himself and we don’t know much about him other than he spends way too much time here, but he pays his dues and he’s yet to break any rules, so we’re not chasing him off.

Her, on the other hand, well, I was glad when she didn’t come back after being turned away on her second visit.

Final Word Count: 859

Your sarcasm is going right over my head, I hope you know.

Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Current Date: January 2, 2023

Character: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 29
Current residence: Warwick, New York
 

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I’m sure it doesn’t surprise anyone that I’m not very sarcastic. It’s just not in my nature. Then again, if I take a quick moment to think about all of my brothers and sisters, I don’t know that any of us really has a sarcastic bone in our bodies. I would imagine it comes from the way we were raised and, you know, it’s not such a bad thing. There wasn’t ever really a time when any of us might have felt that need, I guess.

While we grew up in a place that I’m sure many would consider a castle for its size alone, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Growing up was difficult, especially when Father was still around and even so, during the decade he was gone, supposedly killed in action, most of us walked on eggshells, as though we fully expected him to come back to ensure we all toed the line and walked only where we were meant to.

When his body was brought back to us to finally deal with—in an oddly well-preserved fashion—relief slowly settled through us. I’ve noticed it and I think that most of us older ones have noticed it as well, but it was like a collective release of breath, a breath we all had been holding on to for years. It took time for most of us and yet, look at our lives now. I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Some of our traditions have not changed, we still gather on Christmas Eve, we still put on our most beautiful garments, and we still sing as we take our place down the grand staircase in the ballroom to greet our guests and the incoming end of the year. We dance, we share loving glances with our partners, and we enjoy our gathering.

The one thing that possibly has changed with that particular gathering is that now, considering all of us have partners in our lives, is the presence of a close friend among us. As the years pass and most of us have discovered ourselves and finally made friends out of the house, the presence at the gathering grows. There are new souls to meet and while it all usually ends well, I admit that this year there was something of a bad apple, but it wasn’t a rotten one, just one who might have possibly befriended the one who had invited them in solely in hopes of money and grandeur.

The young woman’s presence didn’t last long in the house. I hardly blame the one of us who brought her in, at times people hide their games rather well, especially when they learn that you are from a well-to-do family. I think that most of us will have to deal with someone of the sort at least once in our lives and learn from that.

I’ve been in those shoes before, someone I had met through the teaching I do in the class. I don’t even really remember how it came that we started talking. Some of the students do stay behind when the classes are done and over with, they chat together, and some do come to talk to us. I certainly don’t stop them from doing that. I think it helps them to see us as human, just like they are.

This one young man, though, I still remember the way he would formulate his questions whenever he came to talk to me after classes. I did notice that he rarely put effort into the classes themselves and it might be why I was drawn into the conversation. I’ve always been one to believe in giving everyone a chance and, at times, understanding where that person comes from does help me understand—and change my methods a little as needed—why they are the way they are.

He rarely spoke of himself, though. It was always subtle questions about me, and I guess that I didn’t really understand why he was doing what he was, not at first. I guess that the light bulb went on when I found him, and a buddy, leaning against my car one afternoon. It had been several hours after the class had been done and over with and I’d seen him leave, like everyone else.

They very possibly just didn’t hear me coming, not at first. I could hear them talk, his buddy laughing the way that I’m sure donkeys do. He was going on about how sarcasm always went right over his head and that he knew he was dense but certainly nowhere near as dense as their latest mark. I suppose that it’s those very words that made me pause. Why would they be leaning against my car, discussing something like that, when there were plenty of other vehicles to lean against? I mean, our building even has a bench up front. They could have been there.

Now, I’m not one to pick a fight but if I need to, I will. Thankfully, in that particular case, I didn’t need to and getting these two away from my vehicle was easy enough. It made me glad that I lived in what I can consider a gated community because yeah, there are fences going all around and a couple of gates in and out, but I also made it clear to the now ex-student that he wasn’t welcome back into the building. I was having none of that.

I’m still a little wary at this point because I feel as though I haven’t seen the last of him, but, for now, I breathe a little easier.

Final Word Count: 935

You know, I should really stop listening to you when you say things are going to be fun, because then it turns out like this.

Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Erisia – Peculiar
Current Date: October 30, 1400

Character: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 24
Current residence: Peculiar, Erisia
 

---

The amused grin on Archer’s face is the only thing keeping me from shoving him into the lake. Not that it would hurt him or anything—I don’t want to hurt him—but my muscles are currently screaming bloody murder at me, and I know that I’m not the only one. I still feel like I should just shove him into that water, just to get a shoving match started. I’m pretty sure we’d all land in that water and, in a way, it could be refreshing.

The thing is, though, is that we don’t know how deep that lake runs quite yet but we’ve noticed that it drops off sharply just six or so feet away from the edge. While the water is clear most of the time, it’s a little muddied at this point because most of us have waddled in recently to get some dirt and sweat off of our faces and to fill in our water bottles. We’ve tested the water, it’s as pure as it’s going to get but we do have filters on our bottles just in case.

All around us, there are several felled trees. We’re careful of how many trees we take down so that we can continue to fix up—and add—to our little community. With every tree we bring down, we take notes and I know that we’re going to be planting trees to replenish, though, somehow, I can’t imagine that we’ll manage to reduce the tree population to smithereens, but this is just a preventative measure. There’s so much to this place for us to discover.

Out here, surrounded by the trees and the heat despite the slightly cooling weather, there’s a little more than a handful of us. Archer somehow managed to convince us this morning that it would be fun work. That cutting down trees would be a new thing for us to work on. We’d never really had to cut trees down on the drops. Smaller things for fires, yes, but nothing the size of these that would take more than the trailers we’d brought with to bring back. I can’t even wrap my arms around the smallest one of the trees we took down, they’re that big.

I can’t complain, though, they’ll provide plenty of wood to work with and wood to heat places up when the weather gets even colder. What I can complain about is, though, that I think none of us expected to essentially be covered in as much sweat and tree dust—pollen, I’m sure, which is weird at this time of the year but what do I know. Most of us are filthy and I’m not the only one giving Archer the stink eye. This one somehow managed to avoid most of the dust as the trees came down, landing with a mighty quake that shook the ground beneath us somewhat.

One of them nearly got Argus but he moved out of the way just in time. We’d miscalculated the direction it was going to fall and that, too, brought up a lot of dirt and dust.

It’s been hard work. I’m not going to lie. It’s been work that’s very different from what we used to do back in the dome. I can’t say we’re going to be able to compare our drops to this, even the drops felt easy compared to this and yeah, I’m a little worried about what it’s going to be like once winter really settles. I don’t know that any of us really knows what the weather is going to be like. It has started to cool down and we’re equipped to deal but it’s still something I know that most of us worry about somewhat.

This is a new world, after all.

We’re learning as we go and while some days are harder—today is no exception—I have no regrets whatsoever about our decision to give this a go. There’s real sunlight above us. There are real stars out there in the sky and it’s so purely dark and nearly black that I think I’ve been able to see things I can’t even explain. Things that I know I’ve heard someone call possible galaxies. Sweeping veils of stars above us and it is just so breathtaking.

We work hard through our days and I’m pretty sure that most of us go to bed completely exhausted, but it feels like a good sort of exhaustion. When you add to that just a little dab of extra pleasure because we deserve that too, it’s the sweetest sleep you might be able to get.

So far, we’ve managed to fix up most buildings so that each of us with our partners can have a small house all to our own. It’s not perfect and we need to deal with a few small things for each building before the temperatures really do drop but otherwise, I think we’re doing great.

Final Word Count: 825

Didn’t I tell you what would happen if caught you around here again? Why do you tempt dangers?

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Erisia – Peculiar
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 23
Current residence: Peculiar, Erisia
Final Word Count: 770 words
 

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I don’t know if I can consider myself one of the lucky ones. Managing to head into Peculiar was partially difficult but not because of anything that had been happening in the dome itself, no. It all had to do with the classes we’d been giving underground. Trying to shift the teaching onto someone else is something we’ve tried to do for months. We’d found a few who had been with us for years and who stayed around to help a lot who could have been perfect, but when we approached them about it, they said that they didn’t feel comfortable teaching.

Fair. A bit unusual considering how much they enjoyed helping everyone else, especially when we were splitting up into smaller groups and we would set someone with deeper knowledge with those groups, so they’d have someone to turn to. Still, little by little, those little groups we made bigger, shifting people around until the potential replacements were comfortable with the bigger and bigger groups. We never forced them, if they helped, they did and even just one person more to their group didn’t seem to bother them, so that was good, really.

A few weeks before it was time to leave, they were pretty much teaching the whole class with just a few words from us at the beginning. We watched from the sidelines and, little by little over those few weeks, we stopped going. Now, we still were underground, it was where we had to go to make it to Peculiar, but we had to wear hoodies, we had to cover our faces and just, try to wander around unseen.

In a way, I know I’ve had it a lot easier than some of the others and I can’t complain.

The one thing that nearly ruined it all happened without warning, as these things tend to.

We were bringing in a few extra bags of things, clothes for a few of us, dried foods, some flour, nuts, stuff that would keep for a long time yet. It gets hot underground most of the time, the air doesn’t circulate half as well as it could in certain areas and wearing hoods over our heads doesn’t help with that heat. We still had to take the transport down, it’s the only way into the underground itself and we’d picked the last cabin where no one else really was.

As of the past year or so, people have taken the security of what happens underground more seriously and some people who were fairly trustworthy had set up a rota of sorts, they kept track of who, in a general sense, went up or down. If you’d broken some of the laws that ruled the underground, you were essentially banned and kept from stepping onto the transport. That did mean showing our faces somewhat.

It was as we settled into the cabin, the door locked because there were a good few of us and we had enough on hand that there was no more room, that we heard a commotion outside. I’m not sure what all happened exactly, but the short version of it seems that whoever had just tried to sneak onto the transport had been banned from heading down, they searched the whole transport, we nearly got spotted by people we didn’t want to and just, it was stressful.

All I really recall from that day other than the stress of the situation was one of the guys who kept track of the people coming in and out of the transport getting on the case of the other one who hadn’t supposed to be around. Something about how he had been warned he couldn’t be there and how it was stupid to tempt dangers and whatever else. I tried to tune them out, we had so much more to worry about, in the end.

Loving out there, beneath this gorgeously clear sky with the sun just so warm on our faces, it’s been a big change. Taking care of the land, making sure the plants are growing as they should, there are so many things to keep all of us busy but I’m loving every moment of it. When we make it to bed, at night, it’s after a day’s hard work and it makes it all worth it. I’m just glad now that everyone has made it and that’s what matters, in the long run. We made it, everyone is safe and we’re doing well.

What else can we ask for? This is a brand new start for all of us and it has been worth it all.

I always admired your ability to find humour in every situation.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Hopeful Beginnings
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 25
Current residence: Klahanie, Washington
Final Word Count: 775 words
 

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Life isn’t always going to be playing fair. I don’t think that needs to be pointed out to anyone. If life wants to chew you up and spit you out, it will. You don’t get out of that unscathed and it will leave scars. It left scars on all of us, but we all made it out alive and we’ve all grown from that.

I’ve heard plenty of stories from the people that come to the classes. Some just whispered between one another, others spoken of more openly as though it would chase away their demons. I’ve always been fascinated by the ones that came to us because they needed to learn to protect themselves. I know that a good few people come to learn self-defence because they think it would be cool to know stuff like that and I can let that go but it really is more the survivors that I look forward to seeing in class.

In a way, I know that it’s pretty sad that life has gotten them to the point where they need to technically learn to keep themselves safe. No one should actually have to do that. Everyone should be safe in their home environment and even outside but that would be in a perfect world and a perfect world doesn’t exist. It never will exist. No matter how much people believe that something perfect will come along, I know it won’t.

I always welcome these people into the classes with the same rules and all. There is a certain expected behaviour during the classes, and I don’t want anyone clowning around; it tends to disrupt the general energy of the class and for some, they come around because they need that quiet focus moment and I want that to be it for them.

That’s not to say I’m serious all the time, I even usually take time to greet some of our regulars if they come my way and I’m open to discussion if they look like they might need it.

With that being said, I hadn’t expected this one boy—a teenager, he couldn’t have been more than thirteen and when he first showed up on his own, I had to ask him to come back with an adult—to come up to me one day and tell me about just how he admired that I could find some humour in every situation. It made me blink. I’m usually not one to make jokes and I had to mull over what he’d said for a few moments before I realized that he possibly hadn’t meant to use the word humour.

One of the first things I realized, once he’d come back with his father in tow the following day of class, was that neither was actually overly fluent in English. The son was more fluent than the father, but he still slipped on several words. I could understand why he’d come alone that first time but with a bit of time and the boy playing translator, we got things okayed for his being there, his father signed all the necessary paperwork and that was that. I mean, minors can join in on the classes, but it usually requires an adult okaying the presence.

Once my mind had managed to wrap itself around the strange compliment, I asked him if he meant that I could try to see the bright side to any situation and he nodded sharply, his eyes growing brighter by the second. He’s a sweet kid. I wish he wasn’t taking the classes so he could learn to defend himself from the bullies that pick on him due to his still heavy accent but it’s one of those things.

This is what I mean by the fact that life will never be perfect. There always will be someone different from the others and in that ‘others’ group, there always will be at least one person that will not be comfortable around those differences and just, the rest is history. That’s more or less exactly what leads to bullying most of the time. People are closed-minded. There are just no other words for it. For every person whose mind is wide open to everything that is out there, at least one, if not two others will be the complete opposite and will refuse to even acknowledge that there is a world out there, beyond their own backyard.

So, for my own sake and that of the boy, yes, I still do try to see the bright side out of most every situation that comes my way. It isn’t always easy but it’s something.

When I say ‘go’, run. Run and don’t look back. I’ll be right behind you, I promise.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 28
Current residence: Warwick, New York
Final Word Count: 745 words
 

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I tried one of those virtual reality headsets and all I can really say about it is ‘never again’. Though I’m well aware it mostly could have to do with the type of game I was introduced to as I tried the headset. It was a type of survival game and possibly the worst option that I could have tried but it was what was offered, and everyone was giving it a try.

Those who know me on a more personal basis know fairly well that I have a ridiculously over-the-top protective streak and I very much so believe in never leaving anyone behind if I can help it. It’s one of those things. I suppose it comes from growing up surrounded by as big a family as I did.

Mind you, that need to keep others safe doesn’t apply to everyone. Those I adore as they are my family, those my family has found to love and, most often, children. Women that might be in danger, young teens that might need help. I might feel a bit protective of just about anyone that seems like they might need the help, but you won’t find me taking the side of abusers who might claim they were doing things in self-defence. I’ll usually be on the other side of that one.

I think I spent all of fifteen minutes with the headset on and it was all I could do to not fling it off of my head. The whole thing was set in a sort of apocalyptic zombie timeline and, well, the short story of it is that you had to survive. Right from the get-go, there are others around you, and you have to decide if you’re going to let them stay with you or leave them behind because you think they’ll slow you down. Most everyone else that went before me decided to leave most of the other survivors behind, opting to go on their own. That much I know because we could hear them talking to themselves as they figured the game out, we couldn’t see what they saw.

I opted for helping the one little girl that was in my area when she looked like she needed it. She was a scrawny little thing and the one thing that made me unplug, so to speak, was when I came to realize that there was no way I could keep her by my side and keep her safe. I had to send her off ahead of me, so I made sure to let her know that when I said ‘go’, she had to run like hell and not look back. I promised her I’d be right behind her but…

Yeah no.

I said go, she took off but as she passed beyond the building and into the street that I had been so sure had been deserved, she was run down by a mob of zombies and her screams were just painful to deal with. I couldn’t take it. It might have just been a virtual reality but yeah, that protective streak? It applied here; I can’t help it. This is who I am, and she was just a tiny little girl that couldn’t have been much more than eight or nine.

I logged out of the game after that one scene, I excused myself and I left. I had issues sleeping that night and the following night so you can bet I’m likely not ready for virtual reality or, at the least I’m not meant for survival games like that. I think that if it had been something else—like say, I don’t know, kittens, or even just an endurance sort of game—I would have been fine.

At this point, I know that this is just one of those things, but I still can see her being just piled on, under all of these zombies and the screaming, the gurgling, the crying, until there was nothing left to it all. I stayed until the end of that scene. I don’t know if the kiddo wasn’t even really meant to survive that long and if that’s the case, I want even less to do with games like these. I’m not a fan of being made to go through an inevitable death. You’ll just have to sink your monetary claws into someone else. Give me a gardening game any day, weird as it sounds coming from me, I’m sure.

Dancing is a part of the experience. Are you going to join us?

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Hopeful Beginnings
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 24
Final Word Count: 672 words
 

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I still remember high school. It wasn’t the best time of my life but it wasn’t the worst. I wish I’d kept better track of what was happening with my siblings during those years; not that I didn’t but I think that there was plenty going on that required my focus that I didn’t always ask my siblings what was going on with them when they didn’t seem to be feeling great.

In a way, I think we’re all guilty of that, though. We were all stuck like sardines, one on top of another, with ‘big plans’ over our heads that our father was always working on when he was at home and most of us just kept our head down and tried to just get through the day. Once he was gone, things changed but that took some time to even get there, in the long run.

Looking back, I know I noticed the signs that some of them were showing, at least as far as closer-aged siblings were concerned more than others, but turning back time is not an option and I know that in the one case I wish I had done something about it, he’s in the best hands he could be right now and I know he’ll get better. He’s already gotten better, after all. I’ve nudged him to learn a few self-defence techniques with me and he seems to have taken to them really well; I’ve offered to teach most of my siblings and I was surprised at how many were willing to learn.

The one thing I do remember most fondly of our younger years was the time we spent at the summer camp. Sure, it was only ten or so days spent out there every summer, nearly starting the day following the one we’d get out of school but, for my siblings and me, it was an escape from the reality we called home.

The summer when we got back home to a burning house forever remains branded in my memory and it’s hard to shake it off, though I suppose I haven’t tried very hard. That year is the year everything changed for us. It’s a year during which my memories of ‘summer camp’ are fuzzy as though I wasn’t fully there though I remember the bonfire on the night before we were all due to go back home.

I remember sitting by it, shivering despite the intense heat of it; I am no psychic but I just felt as though there was something to that fire during that year. I’ve asked a few of my siblings and they seem to all think the same. Maybe we all just remember small things here and there that our brain picked up but we personally didn’t really take note of, it’s hard to say.

There was laughter on that night but I still just remember not feeling as though I could lose myself in the fun. I think most of us were worried about Archer since it was the first year he’d stayed home during the camp and to most of us, he was more of a father figure than Andrea had ever been.

In my mind, I can still somewhat remember this one girl who had approached me, she was giggling away, perhaps high on sugar and she told me, while tugging on my arm and trying to join in, that dancing was part of the bonfire experience. She had wanted me to join in but I told her no; it was a quiet refusal, I still remember that. She gave me this pouty look for a moment before moving on to someone else. I don’t recall much from that bonfire otherwise. I remember being cold. I remember being distracted. I remember others trying to talk to me but none of what they said remains in my mind other than that one girl whose face I don’t even really remember at this point.

I guess it doesn’t really matter, not anymore.

It was easy enough to get into the building. Getting back out, probably not so much.

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Erisia – Rockbourne Dome
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 21
Final Word Count: 714 words
 

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The things I’ve heard while we were on drops, they’re just the weirdest. I mean, I guess that some people don’t seem to take into account that all that separates you from the others in your drop group is the material of your tent and those certainly don’t cut out sound at all.

A lot of what I heard was inane, that’s not really the point. Men—since most of the time the women still were kept on their own side of the camp for safety reasons—jerking off is not something I’m unfamiliar with, I’ve heard it happen almost on every drop. It’s as though they use that particular exercise to de-stress. I don’t blame them, I guess, but that in itself feels like a huge distraction. That might just be me, but it’s one of those things.

I’m not even going to get into the fact that, yes, I’ve heard people having sex out on the drops. Guys trying to be quiet but again, sound carries, and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard at least one ‘couple’—a man and a woman—having sex in a near mine at some point. If a pair of women has engaged in that act themselves, I haven’t heard any of it. Just, all in all, it seems like it could have been one of those things that could have been dangerous—we’ve had to be awakened in the middle of the night because of issues, after all. I mean, even just my very last drop, in the dead of the second night, we had several deer scramble through our tent circle and quite a few of us were woken up because of it.

I suppose that, in a way, I also feel like sex is a really personal thing that shouldn’t be ‘shared’, I don’t really want people hearing me making these noises unless it’s Drakon and even then, I think I’m still a little shy about these things.

Anyway.

When I was eighteen or so, on an autumn drop, my tent was set next to that of a pair of others who were new to our drop zone; they seemed friendly enough, they worked hard and didn’t have a problem listening to authority—that being, the drop leaders, as was. At night, though, they would seemingly discuss things deep into the night. I had a hard time ignoring them at first because up until now, the worse I’d had to deal with, noise-wise, were people snoring. It didn’t work that well for the first three nights and the things I heard them talk about baffled me.

On the third night, they were talking about how they had sneaked into a building and it had been easy enough, but getting back out had been something else entirely. Now, I try to be a law-abiding citizen, so the idea of breaking and entering into a place where I’m not supposed to, it bothers me to a point. I was pretty worn out at that point, though, so I ended up drifting off half-listening to them reminiscing about how they’d nearly gotten caught getting out of whatever building they’d broken into.

Come morning, most of what I’d heard was hazy and after that, I tried to ignore them as best as I could. I busied myself with sleep-finding techniques that I’d been taught before and for the rest of the drop, I just ignored them, even while awake. It made the most sense to me. I just didn’t want to hear anything else about law-breaking subjects.

I’ve only had to share a tent side with them on another drop and, during that particular drop, well they fell into the group of hormonal guys who seem to be more interested in doing sexual things together than sleep and ignoring them was a little harder that time around but somehow, I think I’ve managed that rather well, so I have that going for me, I guess. I don’t know. I try not to think about it too much, not really. I mean, what would be the point? It seems sort of gross to want to engage in sexual things while listening to someone else do the same.

Maybe it’s just me, though. No matter.

I can only do some much for someone who is already super strong. Like, what am I even doing here? Playing the role of a jester?

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 26
Final Word Count: 803 words
 

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At times, some of the students come with their significant others and it’s always interesting to watch them interact. Some show off, others are bashful; I think there’s just something to be said about how people behave in public with their partners versus how they might act in private. Most of what I’ve witnessed has been charming but I think there is one particular visitor that still stands out in my mind and I was sad to learn that the little one had passed on.

About two years ago, one woman joined in on one of our beginner’s self-defence classes seemingly out of nowhere. We don’t usually ask our students any personal questions, beyond what we need to keep things running legally, so I didn’t ask to know why she joined or why she wanted to learn to defend herself. Most of those who join in on the classes are men and women who have a history of dealing with violence, but some do not. You can usually tell when they sign up, it’s in one of two ways they hold themselves; it’s in the way they won’t hold eye contact or they will but in just a certain way, as though to challenge you. As is, I digress.

Those two years ago, Carrie came to join in on our class and she seemed to be one who came simply for the sake of learning, for the sake of adding the exercises to her repertoire. She had me fooled for a while, until she came to the class with a shiner of the likes I hadn’t seen in a really long time. One of the things we offer to our members is a safe place. It’s a place they can come to, even if it’s not their day for classes if they need temporary shelter from something or someone. It just seems to make sense.

That ugly bruising around her eye, though, she couldn’t blame it on a wall or a door. I walked her to our office, I talked to her for a while; I wasn’t interested in digging for details, I just wanted to make sure she was all right, but eventually, she just broke down and told me about her ex-husband, how he was abusive, how she was fighting for custody of her little girl. Her ex had found out about her new boyfriend and things had gone to hell in a handbasket.

To make a long story short, I learned, on that particular day, why she’d been coming to our classes and it was fine by me. I told her that if she wanted extra lessons, we could manage and that if she needed to have the little one with her during those lessons, we could also figure something out.

About six months back, she did show up with her daughter in tow, her boyfriend along with them. As far as I was aware, the ex-husband had been out of the picture for about three months prior to that particular visit. The little girl couldn’t have been more than four or five but it was clear that she was sickly and I could understand why Carrie had gone to the lengths she had to get custody. I say the little girl was sickly but there was a brightness in her eyes, something that made you think twice about underestimating her. So we played a little game.

During the breaks, I’d spend my time with the three of them, going over simple moves with the little girl who took to them like a duckling takes to water on that first go. I even playfully joked with her mother about not knowing what I was supposed to do with someone so strong—while talking about her daughter, and doing so clearly enough that the girl knew I was praising her—I told her that I didn’t even know what I was doing here, that somehow, I felt more like she was the one who could have taught the whole class. It certainly made the little girl smile and Carrie seemed more than thankful for the time I spent with all three of them.

About two weeks ago, Carrie came in to give me the sad news about how her little one had eased away in her sleep, gone to a better place where her health wouldn’t hold her down. She asked me if I could make it to the funerals and while I was never comfortable around things like these—but then, who is?—I told her I’d give it my best and I did. We both went, I paid my respect, I left.

She still comes to class, though I think it’s hard on her, but I’m glad to still see her give it her best.

I understand you’re angry, but I’m not going to be your scapegoat.

 
Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Birds of a Feather
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 26
Final Word Count: 717 words
 

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I tip my invisible hat to the people who work in customer service. I mean, I technically do the same but I don’t have to deal with phone calls about things that don’t work or accounts that were shut down or well, it’s somewhat rare that I get to deal with people who aren’t content to be in the building. Sure, I’ve had to deal with a few grumpy phone calls but these not-quite-bombs are usually rather easy to defuse.

Now, this latest situation has nothing to do with customer service people or work, it has to do with a stupid car accident that isn’t even really a car accident, not really. The type of ‘car accidents’ that happens when someone hits your parked car and then tries to blame you for it and make you pay for the damage, you know? That’s what happened here and as I was in my vehicle and actually about to leave the very spot I’d been parked in when the person in the parking just behind mine backed into that spot so fast… well yeah, they rammed right into me. I have a camera both at the front and the back of the vehicle, it’s a safety measure and as you can imagine, I have the whole scene recorded.

Cue the woman coming out of her car, stalking my way and, well, as this was a rear to rear sort of hit, hard to prove who might have been to blame if it hadn’t been for the video footage, you know? She was angry; I could tell that much from the way she hammered against the window on my side. I hadn’t even had time to really digest what had just happened before she was on me.

I made her wait. All of a minute but it was enough to only make her angrier but I wasn’t going to just sit back and wait for her to get on my case. She still was hammering as I opened my door and she nearly didn’t even move far enough for me to be able to get out.

The thing is, the moment I was out of my car and leaning back against the door a little, she started yelling at me about how I’d rammed back into her, how it was all my fault, how I would be paying and just, it was the whole thing and it was seriously sad. I would have been more than fine just exchanging insurance information and then going on my way but then she let it slip that the car was brand new—and it was a high-priced car, too—and she didn’t have insurance, that she wasn’t going to pay to cover the damage since it was my fault and that if I didn’t pay her kids would starve, well you get the idea.

She went on that way for several minutes and I just let her vent, what would have been the point otherwise? Once she quieted down, giving me this expectant look, I let her down as gently as I could, though I didn’t feel like being patient. This car was more or less fresh out of the dealership and I had hoped to take it out on a drive the following morning, that wasn’t going to happen. I told her that I could understand she was angry, I refused to be her scapegoat, however. I told her about the video footage and she went quiet right at that point, she’d had her mouth open to try and start arguing but that cut her off.

I reminded her that driving without insurance was also illegal and that if she tried to pin this whole thing on me, she’d probably not appreciate that knowledge being handed over to the cops. Surprisingly, that got her quieter still and she even just went right back to her car, got in, drove off.

With her being gone, I took a look at the back and I was pleasantly surprised to only find minor scratches and a small bump, so not much to it for how hard she’d hit me, it felt like. All in all, now how I had hoped my day to end but I suppose it could have been worse.