I am trying to help you, but you’re not making this easy. In fact, I think I might be less inclined to do so.

Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Current Date: December 31, 2022

Character: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human
Age: 28
Current residence: La Caye, Saint Lucia
 

---

I’m not sure what happened this year. Not that I’m complaining, it made for quite a bit more business to the point where we temporarily had to hire someone else this summer to help out. I don’t really keep up with world news, but it feels as though our not so little island became a huge wedding destination this year. It started in early spring and lasted all through the summer, well into autumn and there even was one wedding that happened on the day before Christmas. Thankfully, everything was ready the day before and we really only had to have the regular Christmas and other end-of-year themed bouquet in store for that day otherwise.

Most of the clients actually worked through this agency that opened its doors near the city centre sometime earlier the year before. I’m surprised there hadn’t been one here before. I know a little too well how these tend to work but, so far, from meeting one of the two assistants a few times, they don’t seem to be run as ragged as I’d ended up being back then. Something I find myself oddly glad for. If not for Cinth, I don’t know that I’d be healthy at this point in my life, let alone even alive for how ragged she’d run me.

So, we’d see the assistant pop in every so often when they weren’t calling, setting things up for us and getting everything worked out. One particular bride-to-be, however, turned out to be a bit of a bridezilla. She wasn’t over the top, but she still was a bit out there. Her wedding was in the early fall, and we’d already seen the assistant half a dozen times by that point because the bride-to-be was just constantly changing her mind about things.

The last time we did see this assistant—two days before the wedding and a few hours before the bride was due to get on the plane—they were in store with us but had the bride on a video phone call because clearly, she was having last minutes frustration with everything and nothing we showed her was up to her standards. At one point, the assistant—whose name I feel I should know by now but I admit I don’t as I always call them rainbow due to their hair and it makes them smile—turned back to the call and told the bride-to-be that they were trying to help her, they really were, but she wasn’t making it easy at all. That if she kept up her behaviour, they felt as though they might begin to feel like inclined to help her.

I’m not going to lie, that made me gape a little. If I’d ever talked to a bride that way, it would have gotten back to my boss and man, she’d have been on my case faster than any hangry wild animal might pounce. And yeah, I mean hangry. This bride, however, man, I watched her snap her jaw shut, her eyes went wide and yet, that seemed to be that, she huffed, muttered a few words I couldn’t catch and after that, it was smoother sailing.

As it turns out, this little Rainbow was related to the bride, or well, the groom. It was possibly one of the reasons why they’d picked this destination for the wedding. Not that I can blame them, this place is about as perfect as heaven can get. That’s possibly why they acted the way they did to the bride, and we heard nothing more on that subject. We got the bouquets and the rest delivered and from the happy look on Rainbow’s face, all had gone quite well during that wedding, so you know what, I’ll take it.

I still shudder a little when I think about my old boss. It’s been years, so many years at this point but if Cinth hadn’t taken me to the back room that day, I don’t know that we’d have made it as far together in life as we have now. My life is honestly as perfect as it might ever get. It was a sort of strange way to meet but I want to think that this is because we were supposed to grow closer. I don’t know that I believe in fate or things happening for a reason but there are days when I suppose I might just do.

I wonder if this new year is going to be as busy as this passed one was. It wasn’t a bad year, it did require us to expand a little bit and we’ve honestly had to add an extra floor to our building—something I hadn’t ever planned on happening—but certain things are necessary. I think that if we had had the room to expand on the ground floor, we would have, but this wasn’t a possibility and with quite a bit of juggling through paperwork; here we are now.

Here’s to a new year of working a wonderful job with the perfect partner at my side.

Final Word Count: 845

Maybe if you tried listening to me, things might go your way.

Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Terraphim – Swinging Pendulum
Current Date: October 18, 2530

Character: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human – Meta – Telekinesis
Age: 26
Current residence: Xiang Po, Terraphim
 

---

I think there’s a good bit of a learning experience to be earned while you teach others the arts. And yes, I’m plenty aware that some might roll their eyes at me if they heard me calling them arts but it’s in the name and it’s true. It’s not in every style—new styles I’ve been discovering and learning myself when I’m not busy doing something else—but in a few different martial arts, the way you do move is really beautiful and it’s just smooth flowing.

So yeah, I’ll call them the arts all I want and even now, I’m still learning. Over the last year or two, there have been people from what I like to call the outside world coming in. They’re people from other continents, people who might have been born here or near but who travelled and learned from beyond our walls, and I consider myself lucky that I could learn from these people in turn. It’s been a really nice experience.

While I’m still learning these new arts, I still teach the older ones to the kids. Not that they’re that much different in age—the arts—but to me, they’re the ones I’ve learned from when I was young and then there are the ones I’m learning now. So old and new. It’s all in my mind anyway and, to me, they’re all arts and that’s that but still.

There are certain kids that I still struggle with, and I still let the other guy deal with. The kids that still complain that they’re bored, that they don’t want to be here, that they already know it all and yet, when it comes time to practice, they fumble; they struggle with keeping their form and as far as ranks are concerned—we do keep a small board, mostly for the kids’ entertainment—they’re usually at the bottom everywhere. It’s not much of a good look, especially not when their parents come by the pick them back up.

More than once, we’ve tried telling the kids that if they listened to us even just a little—a shift of the foot, balance not quite centred, it’s little things, really—things would possibly go their way, too. They’d possibly realize they’re not that bored and that there’s plenty still that they can learn and so much they can work on and perfect. I don’t know how much more we can push them until they just refuse to do anything altogether.

In a way, I don’t blame them. Most of the kids who complain are either the slightly older ones who are at the stage in their lives when they think they’re better than everyone else, or, in the slightly younger groups, the ones whose parents have taught them the bare bones of what they knew and let me tell you, most of the time, these bare bones aren’t even right.

Now, I don’t hold that against the parents. I know I’ve had a very privileged life in my own way. I’ve been taught from the time I was very young and the person doing the teaching knew what they were doing. I’ve had access to the proper knowledge from the get-go and I was never really refused anything—in terms of what I was being taught, mind you. I know I’ve lived a better life than a lot of people, but on that same note, I’ve had to live through plenty of crap too so don’t get started on thinking that I’ve never had to lift a single finger to do anything in my life.

I know that this is possibly another one of the reasons why some of the kids don’t care to come our way. I know that I’m known, in my own way. I know that people are aware of who I am—it’s a bit hard not to, even if the classes being taught aren’t done on the royal grounds. I don’t go prancing around, telling everyone who I am but I’ve been in enough competitions and mom’s story—to those who know it—is somewhat infamous enough that people are going to know who I am one way or another.

That doesn’t make me who I am, though. Mom’s story is what it is and it’s in the past. It doesn’t define any single one of us and so many people out there embellish it in bad ways, which I don’t think that’s the right word for it but it’s the only word that comes to mind right now, so it’ll have to do. They make it sound worse than it really was and it’s one of the reasons why we couldn’t really roam as we were younger and, even now, we have to be careful. I don’t mind, though, I’ve made my peace with this a long while ago and that’s okay.

I like my life as it is and I’m not about to change anything about it.

Final Word Count: 827

I’m so glad everyone’s having so much fun in my living room, but you had better clean up all the crumbs and glitter or so help me—

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human
Age: 27
Current residence: La Caye, Saint Lucia
Final Word Count: 776 words
 

---

Certain of our customers are repeat customers. Though, if I were honest, I’d say that the vast majority of our customers are repeat customers. That’s the thing about living on an island. A big island, but an island, nonetheless. This place is a huge tourist attraction too, so we get plenty of them but over the passing years, there are faces that you see much more often than the others and even if what they buy is minimal, it’s always nice to see them come by.

One particular man, he’s just so sweet. I admit that I was a little wary of him at first because he stopped by often, would look in, and then just move on. I thought he was taking stock of the place, maybe preparing some sort of nefarious plans to try and steal from us but that was furthest from the truth. What I did eventually learn from him once he finally made a habit of stepping in and buying something—a single rose or two, at first—was that he’d been in a brand new relationship and the idea of buying flowers had crossed his mind, he just hadn’t ever gone through with the idea.

Eventually, he graduated from roses almost every other day to slightly bigger bouquets, those he bought every Friday afternoon without missing a single week. There were weeks when he looked haggard and just life-worn as he stepped into the shop, but the moment he found the one bouquet he wanted to buy for his partner, his face would light up, it was so interesting to see.

Through his visits, we did eventually sort of get to follow his journey into that relationship. The day he proposed—he bought a different bouquet type than what he’d been buying all along. The day he got married—he kept it simple but still bought a beautiful bouquet that was mainly white with just a hint of blue and pink in it because that was how his pair would be dressed. We’ve never met his partner. The way he talks, I’m not even sure if they are male or female but does it really matter? He’s happy, I feel like this is the important part.

Of course, after the wedding, he went a few weeks without buying anything and it was understandable, so much going on in his life and all. When he entered the store almost a month after having been gone, he looked tired but there was a glow to him. I know that people like to claim that this whole glow thing is bullshit, but it’s not, I assure you.

The wedding had been a quiet, but sweet affair, but it was supposedly the night before that had been quite the party, as we learned from him. His partner had stepped out with friends of their own, spending that last night before the wedding with them. He stayed home and his own friends threw him a party that he told us he’d remember to the ends of his days.

Through listening to him talk about the party as he looked at our selections for the day, I was able to put together that the party had ended up requiring quite a bit of clean-up once all was said and done. Something about crumbs and glitter that they all did pitch in to help and you know, I would have been put off if my friends had thrown me a party, made a mess, and not offered to help with the clean-up. Especially if there was glitter involved.

I haven’t had to deal with glitter in years at this point and I’m glad for it. One bridezilla we’d had to deal with, before moving, had requested glitter in her bouquet and let me tell you, we almost refused her the request. That thing is hell to deal with and her description of things made it sound like she wanted us to just flat out dip her stupid bouquets into the stuff so that every petal would glimmer in the light.

I truly don’t understand people like that. Why does everything have to be so over-the-top ridiculous? What is the end goal here? The bouquet shouldn’t be the thing that grabs everyone’s attention, though maybe I just don’t know how to read any of this or whatever this is all about. Maybe it’s just because we kept our own wedding so simple and still so perfectly beautiful in my eyes that I don’t understand others.

Not that it matters at this point, it was the only time we had to deal with anyone wanting glitter and that’s that.

Being this strong is boring. There’s no challenge. What am I supposed to do now?

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Terraphim – Swinging Pendulum
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human – Meta – Telekinesis
Age: 25
Current residence: Xiang Po, Terraphim
Final Word Count: 751 words
 

---

I’m not perfect and I will never be perfect. My spot at the top during the competitions is never a sure-win. I am constantly working to better myself and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. With that said, I have, however, offered my help in teaching some of the younger kids. I feel like it gives me a bit of a purpose. I know who I am, I know that some people just look at me wide-eyed when I’m around because I’m royal without really being royal. Others would rather spit in my face because they think that I don’t deserve the life I’ve been living because of my mother. These people can get lost.

There was plenty of uncertainty to be had when I first brought up the idea last year. It’s not that I’m bored with things, but between training, the competitions and helping Cinth out and about, I still had time left over that I didn’t really know what to do with and helping the younger kids train felt like a good idea. It still feels like a good idea, but I admit that I’m starting to have a few second thoughts.

I never teach alone, that, in itself, is fine by me. It makes sense, too. That’s not the issue. The issue is that certain kids who already seem to have a base in the training seem to believe themselves better than everyone else. Now, I’ve had to deal with things like these from other competitors before. They’ll look at you, think you’re just a shrimp and you’ll go down quick but then they realize that they’ve underestimated you when you’re one-on-one and things just either go south because they’re sore losers or they just sort of go and we part on a handshake.

I can’t do that with these kids, though, so I have to deal with some of them complaining about how, being as strong as they are, is boring and that there is no challenge. They claim that they can ace everything they’ll be taught and that they don’t want to be here and that their parents sent them, and they’re bored and, well, you get the idea. This usually happens before we even get started and I admit that I might not have much patience for that kind of behaviour. I don’t take to it well when it comes from others in my age group at competitions, kids are no different. They should know well enough to not complain without at least giving things a try. Or well, in any case, that’s how I see it.

As I see it, in a way, it’s not unlike someone who claims that any other activity they’ve never even tried is boring because they believe they’re perfect at it already. How can you know if you don’t even try?

So I arm myself with as much patience as I can but, most of the time, I end up letting that one particular kid or two work with the other teacher. Not that I really see myself as much of a teacher. I know I am teaching them things, but I don’t know that I want that title, it feels odd in my mouth. I know I can’t really use the term tutor; it’s a word we’ve all learned to avoid thanks to an issue that happened in our teens. Cameron still has mental scars from the whole thing, and I wish I’d seen it. I wish I could have done something about it.

Though, as it stands, I know that I probably couldn’t have done much. On that very night, I found myself in an old well and only Cinth finding me got me to safety. Cameron and the tutor, my sad idiotic self in the snowed-in well; I don’t even recall why I’d gone out there, I just remember how cold it was and how that’s the way I discovered my gift. I honestly think it’s about that time that we all discovered our gifts—or well, that they manifested for the first time.

That brief moment in time… it wasn’t one of our bests, but I still want to believe that we’ve pulled through and we’re all stronger for it. I survived that well, Cameron survived the tutor, Briar, honestly, I think was the one that ended up being mostly fine during that time, though I could be wrong.

All in all, it was a pretty defining moment in our lives.

Last I saw you, you got yourself turned into a statue. How’ve you been?

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Terraphim – Swinging Pendulum
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human – Meta – Telekinesis
Age: 24
Final Word Count: 736 words
 

---

The things you hear when you’re just roaming beyond the gates and down into the city, hood up and low over your head to keep your face to yourself because, well, it’s one of those things. I can keep myself safe just fine but my near-constant presence at competitions has made it impossible for me to remain an ‘unknown’ and I’d rather not be tailed by guards though I’m sure my parents would prefer that option.

The thing is, if I get tailed by guards, I don’t get to be mostly incognito and people’s reaction to my presence would be different and that’s the point of things. I want to be able to roam without people just pointing their fingers and looking my way. So hood up and low and I roam. I don’t cause trouble, I don’t bother people, I just mind my own business and I usually manage to find a small thing or two at the market that I can bring back.

But seriously, the things you hear when you’re just roaming are the weirdest.

It’s been a while since I’ve last gone but you could say I got a little weirded out and it kept me from going anywhere for a little bit. I might brave the potential weird again because I’ve been wanting to get something for Cinth for a while and I can’t do that if I stay inside or if I wander with him at my side. That’s counterproductive to finding a little gift for my beautiful Flower.

Last time, though, I was nearing the market when I heard someone mention to their friend that the last time they’d seen them, they’d gotten themselves turned into a statue. It made me pause. Now, I’ve heard of rumours, legends, and other whatnots about things like these. Some claim that it is a gift, others claim that it is a curse, some go so far as to claim that it’s magic and it’s hard to find a reliable source for that sort of information.

I mean. There’s the story about how there was this one woman—I think—and that if you stared into her eyes, poof, you’d be turned to stone. That idea is terrifying. Then there are the stories about how it’s people with gifts a bit like mine but it’s hard to imagine how they would work. Do they just point their fingers at things and they change into stone, do they need to just imagine something turning to stone and it happens? The same can be said for how it’s magic. That could be anything and that ‘anything’ could, again, just be a gift like mine, if such a thing even really exists.

Still, the idea of anyone being turned into a statue was enough to make me take a step further away from that particular pair. I didn’t dally at the market; I didn’t feel like staying around much longer than I might have needed to. I can defend myself against a lot of things, but I don’t think I have any knowledge as to what would save me if I somehow was being turned into a statue. The thought is honestly a little horrifying.

So yeah, with that particular I’m-weirded-out-now thought filling my brain, I went back home empty-handed and I avoided heading back down to the market on my own. I vaguely remember that I actually did all I could to keep anyone else from going unless they absolutely needed to and I even sort of broke down in Cinth’s arms about it at one point.

I don’t know why it bothered me as much as it did. Things like these normally don’t get to me but the idea of anyone I care about being made of stone—or marble, or whatever—and possibly never being able to draw a proper breath again just didn’t sit right with me. I am not an emotional mess usually. I might have been a little more tired than the norm when I heard these two talk and, for all I know, it could have been a thing between the two of them and it’s possible that none of it was even true.

Do I feel sheepish about my reaction and my behaviour over the last few weeks? Not really. I am as I am. I will act how I might feel the need to.

Only you could make getting lost look fun.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Family Values
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human
Age: 26
Final Word Count: 649 words
 

---

Leave it to the dog to make getting lost look fun.

I mean, I know I’m not all that lost, there’s a path not very far and I only have to follow it to get back to the house but I still feel lost and I still feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere without any civilization for countless miles. I’m not all that far off on the distance of civilization since the three houses are a bit off from the main city but it’s not all that bad in the long run.

But really. Why is it that the rare time I take him out on walks beyond the property lines, he just gets this goofy look on his face and trots off as though all he’s interested in, is getting lost? Only twice did I let ever let him off his lead while out there, but thankfully, I have a tracker on his collar and shaking his tin of treats tends to get him running back but still. He roamed miles away the first time and I was sure it would take forever to find him, even with the tracker. I hadn’t thought to take the tins with me that time and I worked my throat raw calling for him while looking.

When I found him that first time, I called his name, he gave me this tilted-head look as though he didn’t know what I was doing there and he trotted right on back my way as though I hadn’t been calling him for hours.

It took about six more months before I dared to let him off his lead again though I kept him in my line of sight but he still managed to get away from me. I did have his tin with me, that time, and shaking it got him running back. Ever since, I’ve kept him on a thirty-foot lead when I take him out beyond the property lines. It gives him plenty of space to roam but I still know where he’s at. Sure, I have to untangle him quite often but I don’t mind so much, it beats not knowing where the heck he’s at.

One thing I’m also pretty happy about is the fact that we got him neutered not long after we got him, back while we still lived in New York. If not, I’m pretty sure that we’d have had extra puppies on our hands after that second run-off-and-get-lost adventure he had. There are a few strays here and there, though I think in the case of one, she’s just never collared or kept a close eye on, but I know that he’s made quite the impression on a few other dogs around the area. One of them is a stray and several others are owned by people who live in the city.

Really, though, I’ve learned my lesson, as far as letting him roam loose beyond our yard is concerned. Even when I take him over to either of my brothers’ yard, I keep him on the long lead. He’s still got so much scenting to do and places to discover that I’m not surprised that he’s more interested in essentially getting lost over staying still and within the boundaries but I just have no desire to have to play locate-the-brute.

At least, inside the house, he behaves well and even in the yard, it’s not a problem. It really comes down to the moment when we step beyond the property. If he’s on a shorter lead, he behaves and keeps to my side like nobody’s business but the longer length of freedom I give him when we roam off the roads; he just does whatever he wants. I can’t exactly stop him. It makes him happy to explore, so I won’t take that away from him.

How much is left over?

 
Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Birds of a Feather
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human
Age: 24
Final Word Count: 616 words
 

---

Things have changed in my life. They’ve changed in a way I never actually imagined was possible but you find me actually glad that it all happened because I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t be living in this beautiful paradise with my perfect match and pair at my side, together forever with the ring and paperwork and the rest all attached.

I never actually thought I’d get married; hell, I never thought I’d ever meet someone. Not with the childhood I’ve had, not with the work I used to do for whats-her-name. I don’t even want to think about her, she was working me raw and if not for my beautiful, wonderful and perfect Cinth, I’d probably in a ditch somewhere at this point.

So as it stands, I’m sure it’s not very hard to understand that I don’t like thinking about my past much but it crops up now and again, either due to a dream though they’re rare or due to something that happens during the day.

Like just yesterday afternoon, I was bringing our big and not-so-brutish dog back home after his yearly visits to the vet for his shots and I see a kid who couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, sitting on a corner at the mouth of an alleyway and I’m pretty sure the kid was out there to beg for money. It made me cringe inside and, I suppose that being a good man, I should have stopped but I couldn’t bring myself to.

I’ve never had to beg. My life wasn’t pretty and my father was a drunkard but I’ve never had to beg for anything. It came to be a close call a few good times but I think we were more afraid of our father finding out we’d found more money for things than anything else, so we didn’t.

That’s not to say some meals weren’t meagre. I remember a few nights when we were huddled around the open fridge door, just looking at what was left over in there for us to share. We’d wonder about just how much was left over and if it was enough to split three ways. We always made it work, it wasn’t always much but we always at least had a little something in us, food-wise.

So seeing that kid there on the edge of the alleyway, it brought back these memories that I thought I’d never revisit. Usually, the memories weren’t as unhappy as that one, they were normally just things that were daily happenings but weren’t life-changing. That might be why I just drove on. I couldn’t bring myself to stop because I just knew I would have made it back home with an extra passenger and yet, there were warning bells going off in my mind.

The little details my eyes didn’t pick up but my brain did. This place is as close to paradise as it gets but it is not without its downsides, I’m not going to lie. Though rare, there still is violence to be wary of and I think my brain was trying to tell me that helping this guy would end up with me in a ditch and I can’t have that so I went home.

I went home, I let the beast out to roam our yard in a way only a happy beast of his size can—without disturbing any of the planted flowers!—and I just let myself back inside. It took me a while to fall asleep last night and I know I could do with a bit more sleep today but we’ll see how I manage.

Oh, oops, I don’t want you to think I’m friendly.

 
Timeline/World: Terraphim – Swinging Pendulum
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human – Meta – Telekinesis
Age: 22
Final Word Count: 595 words
 

---

Some competitors focus too hard on the idea of winning the championships. All they see is that honour and the praise and the rest and they don’t stop to think that just maybe, there could be something friendly going on there. You could meet other people, you could learn new things. I go to the competitions to learn other fighting styles at this point because if I only ever went with the only thought crowding my head being that I want to win, I would be bored out of my wits most of the time because I just tend to win.

I know that sounds like I’m full of myself but it’s true. From great teachers to a full-blown desire to not let anything slip by me, I’ve yet to meet anyone who could beat me. I’ve met plenty who could have been my equal but there isn’t really such a thing as ‘equal grounds’ in championships like these. I don’t mind though. That and it’s also not because of my almost-royal status, I try to not bring that one up most of the time. It seemed to create an unfair advantage before and it’s the last thing I want.

Now, on the last competition, there was this new guy, I’d never seen him before and he just had this look about him like he wanted to beat the shit out of everyone just because he could. The bulky, bully kind who takes up martial arts just because it’s ‘fighting’ and that’s the type of thing that makes him feel good. I was somewhat instantly wary about him but I try to give everyone a chance. I’m not without my safety-net and if he was going to try something ‘funny’ I would have been able to keep him at a distance. I didn’t want to have to turn to that and I didn’t have to.

I did walk to him, I offered him my hand, we shook, we talked a bit but when he learned I was in the competition, he turned his nose up and walked away, muttering something about not making friends with the opposition. Just like that. I wonder how many or few friends he has. Does he even have any? It almost seemed like he could have been nice if it hadn’t been for the whole need to win thing that clearly has its claws sunk way deep into him.

I didn’t follow him when he turned and walked away. I just went back to my side of things and waited until the competition started. That was the point after all.

When it was down to the two of us in the final round, I didn’t let his earlier reaction get to me. That would have been playing right into a hand he probably didn’t even realize he could have played. I just focused on doing what I do best and I admit that he lasted a little longer than most others I’d had to pleasure of fighting against at this point, it was an interesting change. He still went down.

I invited him to join us for an after-competition meal but he gave me this sarcastic little comment about how he hadn’t wanted me to think he was friendly when we chatted a bit before the competition. There was no way he could eat with people like me. I think that was supposed to be an insult but it was lame and I just let him go. More food for my hungry self.

Not gonna complain.

I’d be extremely concerned if I were you.

Timeline/World: Terraphim
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human – Meta – Telekinesis
Age: 21
Final Word Count: 548 words

---

It was laughable. I’d been doing these competitions for years at this point and I’d never lost a single one. Not once. Not since the very beginning and that had nothing to do with the whole royalty thing. Not that I let it get to my head, it’s not the kind of thing you do when you’re in it the way I am. I’m not there to win, I’m not there to show off, I’m there because doing these competitions gives me something to focus on, other than my beautiful and precious companion.

This guy though, he was bulky, sure, but he looked slow. He tried to be intimidating but it was hilarious instead. I kept myself from laughing at him though, I could see it on his face, he was the kind who turned to brute strength as need be to get his point across, or if crossed. He was about to get seriously crossed and I’d deal with it later though they never let anything bad happen during these events. We were all safe as could be once off the mat but still on the grounds. After all, this was a competition, we were here to compete, not to bash in the heads of our competitors while behind the scene, though I’ve seen it happen, it’s sad.

In the long run, he turned out to not even be much of a problem. He used his weight far too much and threw it around like he expected that to get him where he needed to be. There’s more to martial arts competitions and martial arts in general than weight, speed and all. You need focus, you need to be able to see through your opponents in a way and just—well there’s a lot to it. Some folks think it’s about how you can hit other folks just so but it’s not and it’s sad that they think that.

Things did get almost ugly after the competition. Some folks are sore losers and they think they’ve been cheated but it’s so far from that. I don’t know how they think they’ve been cheated. We’re surrounded by every other competitor, the judges are there, the guards are there, so how can anyone cheat, really? My gift is my secret and only my family is aware of it. I also don’t use it during competitions, that kind of thing would be cheating and it’s the last thing I want to do, it really is. I win these fair and square.

The ‘trouble’ after the competition didn’t last very long and it was handled quickly. One, because they were my personal guards posted near my area and two, because well the competitor in question is a sad idiot who probably can’t count up to a hundred—I was going to say twenty but I figured I’d be nice—and he just lunged out here in public. Did he not think that this would cause a scene? Did he not think that no one would notice this big brute just rushing in towards the area? I was more concerned for Cinth’s safety than my own but as it turns out, that was also needless. We’re both safe, we’re both fine and I doubt we’ll see the idiot again anytime soon.

They don’t give bus drivers enough credit.

Timeline/World: Alternate Earth – Birds of a Feather
Characters: Jadyn Taylor
Race: Human
Age: 22
Final Word Count: 533 words

---

Our move to Saint Lucia was an adventure. I was terrified they wouldn’t deliver our shipped items where we had wanted them but that turned out to be a completely unfounded worry. There’s more room in this house than we had in the apartment and at times I feel a little lost, there’s more room in this house than there was in the house I shared with my brothers while growing up!

Another somewhat terrifying thing was to leave the shop back home; I think I worried more than Cinth about that despite the fact that I knew it would be in more than good hands. The kiddo had been working for Cinth for years as far as I recalled and while he was still young, he and his boyfriend were hard workers and I knew they’d be working hard on keeping things going smoothly.

I admit I was also a little afraid of what business would be like here, but it’s surprisingly busy most of the time, which I guess isn’t actually a bad thing. We’ll have to fly back to the states a small handful of time, mostly for check-ups but I think it’ll be just fine in the long run.

One of the things that baffled me recently is that I realized that the whole bus and metro system I was used to, wasn’t a thing here, I shouldn’t have been surprised, well I did except maybe small buses and there are things they call buses but they’re vans, I think at most you can fit like seven people in them and the drivers, oh they chatter and talk, at least the ones I’ve met.

I guess that at most seven passengers are easier to handle than however-many could fit in the large buses back in the states. The volume of discussion is much lower and everything just feels so much calmer. I’ve met a lot of bus drivers before we move and I didn’t give them enough credit. The loud talking, the babies crying, the mix of scents of bad body odour and perfume and cologne. They had to go through a lot for their jobs and I’m sure I’m not the only one who didn’t give them all the credit they deserved.

Moving here was a good idea and I’m thankful Cam managed to find three houses side by side, it’s a short distance from the city proper but it’s so peaceful and quiet, the view is breathtaking. Both from the bedroom (Cinth will always be breathtaking to me) and from our little balcony. There is a hustle and bustle of daily life in the city proper but in our little corner of the world, most of the sounds come from nature and from the bit of construction still going on at the other end of the street we live in.

I never realized how stressed out I was, living in the big city back there. Even our ever faithful four-legged companion has taken to the new life really well and loves the fact that we now have a yard, even if half of it has been separated from the rest for flower trials.

I’m glad we’re here.