Cia

Well with the whole, who do they marry, will it turn to love, will they have peace just wouldn't come to me quickly. Ah well, every once in a while a longer short story to a prompt is okay, right? Thanks for the review, can't wait to see what you come up with!

“You will do your duty!” my father thundered. I bowed my head, my fists clenched as tight as my jaw. I stormed from the room, not daring to speak. I’d been meek my whole life. I obeyed without question, accepted the strictures placed on me. That hadn’t done me a bit of good. Neither had blowing up, and finally after many long years, releasing my iron grip on my temper. That had earned me a pair of guards and a day of fasting to purify me to receive Stygianius’ wisdom. It wasn’t right. I’d hop

The priests have proclaimed that I must marry Zaran, the leader of the army that had decimated my people for years. His reputation was fearsome but life couldn't get any worse for me, could it?

Yes, this was part of a creative writing course I found online (info in my forum) and this one prompt. I just sat down to do a quick short story for GA Prompt #76 and it turned into an almost 3k short story. Funny how one small thing can get the gears turning. I am so glad you enjoyed the story, thanks for the review Sean!

Mebbe!

LOL! Well thank you! Thanks for the review but you know, that's okay, sometimes I never get beyond the first chapter of a story either. Or I want to, but I get sidetracked or busy and don't get back to it. I always love it when a story sucks me in so much that I have to keep reading beyond chapter 1.

My favorite movie quotes: Toy Story: You are a sad, strange little man. And you have my pity. Gladiator: What we do in life echoes in eternity. Favorite Book quotes: A Wrinkle in Time: "But you see, Meg, just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist." Anne of Green Gables: "You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair... People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is." (LOL) From the Dune Series: If you need something to worship, then worship life — all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together! Randomness quote: For all those people at Walmart (You know you laugh at those too!): Gene Police: You!! Out Of The Pool!

I taught you a new word? Cool! I love it when I have to look things up. I have to mix up the cliffies, review, chapter, you know-keep you on your toes. I don't do the whole embarrassment thing too often on my characters, I blush for them when I write and I hate that feeling, lol, but I had to add in the line about the boss hearing them having sex. I think besides your parents, that's just about the worst person you would havelistening in for pure blush factor, LOL. Thanks for the review!

I taught you a new word? Cool! I love it when I have to look things up. I have to mix up the cliffies, review, chapter, you know-keep you on your toes. I don't do the whole embarrassment thing too often on my characters, I blush for them when I write and I hate that feeling, lol, but I had to add in the line about the boss hearing them having sex. I think besides your parents, that's just about the worst person you would havelistening in for pure blush factor, LOL. Thanks for the review!

Well I figure anyone as possessive as Dav, who uses scent and taste so fundamentally would be irritated by another man's smell on their mate's skin. Plus... it was just a hot idea, lol. Thanks for the review hun!

Interesting start. I like Percy's character. I too hate having people stand too close in line. Honestly anyone behind my back like that at all creeps me out so I usually stand partially sideways, lol. It's a skin crawling feeling, like they're just about to touch you and you can't see it or stop it. *shudders* Anyway, I like the beginning of this story. I also found it ironic that a lady who wears purple lipstick would criticise anyone for wearing a purple shirt. Cause well... purple lipstick? Sooo not a good look on anyone, lol! One line did confuse me. "Unusually, the office secretary, Amanda would be the person he barked out orders to and as soon as his personal assistant heard his command," I think I read this about 5 times. Who is Amanda? Is Unusually supposed to be usually? It just didn't make sense because you gave us a name and didn't explain who the person was. Is Amanda really Rocket? That bit ruined the flow for me so you might consider a quick clean up or explanation.

Awww, he might not be dead, he sure ain't happy! I know, totally gramatically incorrect there but it wouldn't be the same cleaned up, lol. Thanks so much for the review!! I couldn't kill Benny off, too much history and future with Dav. That's not to say Dav's going to trust him any time soon. Which could gum things up... important things that will be happening soon. (I think I just left a cliffie review response. Am I that evil??? Hmmm... guess so!)

"Nothing," I gasped in a faint voice, barely able to breathe. "Liar," the Carthera snarled, as he tightened his hand. "I can smell his blood on you. Davis hasn't answered his phone and he wasn't at your apartment where he said you would be. I don't know what you were thinking coming back here but you'll live to regret it." The claws dug in deeper. Tears leaked down my face and I whimpered. It felt like he was scraping the bone in my arms. "Please stop." I didn't try to struggle, afraid that t

Don't knock young people marriage for everyone. I know a lot of people who can do it and do it well. I don't advocate it for everyone because people do change a lot. You have to know who you are, who they are, and be willing to accomodate change. Unless you are willing and able to do with that with a partner, you won't make it. This is where not KNOWING your sexuality can be dangerous to your relationship. If you're bi but not quite sure what you really prefer, you can cause a lot of heartache on both parts. You have to be sure of who you want, not just the sex of who you are with. I am pretty much right in the middle, liking both sexes equally but when I met my husband at 16 I knew HE was it. That was 14 years ago, 11 of them married. I married young, I'm VERY bi and I've never cheated and never regretted picking a man over a woman to be with long-term. It is possible.

I hope you have a lovely day!!

I feel the same way about many of the members I have met here on GA. Some I've turned to when I felt like I could talk to no one else and they listened. That's invaluable in life. So, right here with you in appreciating GA and all it has done for my life as well.

The mod forum! You people are trouble, all of you! JK

LOL, you keep trying to make me give away the plot. No way! You'll just have to wait and see! I'm glad you liked the glimpse into their lives, there will be more of that to come with more information on Carthera as a whole as well! Thanks for not massacring me on the cliffie, I couldn't help it! As always, thanks so much for taking the time to leave me a lovely review!!

I know, right? Someone is in VERY big trouble. Duh dun dun.... Thanks for reading and reviewing!!

I always like getting to know the characters as well but I can tell when I leave a reader wanting for action. I get fewer reviews and input on these types of chapters. However, without them the story suffers. Hopefully you won't have to stay on your seat for long, I'm already well into writing chapter 6! Thanks for the review!!

Happy Birthday!!

I'm ranked in psychological bisexual I guess. I'm equally attracted to men and women but I'm very much monogamous. I am okay with just being with a man for the last 14 years but I still like to look at women and they still play a factor in my sexuality, even if I'm not doing anything with one. That being said, the features I'm attracted to with men and women are very different. I like larger, stronger-willed men with strong masculine traits and I like women with softer, more feminine traits than me. I'm sort of in the middle myself when it comes to men/women personality traits so it's not surprising to me I like my partners to be on either end of the spectrum for the sexes.

I can't help it! The chapter was too much of an info dump. I just had to add this part in. Don't worry though, more will be coming as soon as I type it up!

I woke up and stretched, craning my head to look at the clock. Five pm. We'd been asleep for quite a while but I always needed more rest after my migraines, they took a lot out of me. Dav probably had a long night watching over me. I snuggled back into the arms holding me and sighed. I was enjoying the warmth when my stomach growled and I heard a chuckle behind me. Dav was cuddled up to me, holding my back to his chest. I rolled over in his arms and looked up at him, one hand stroking his warm

Well you can always go with a mass-energy equivalence. A simplistic view of one of Einstein's theories was that the mass of a body equals the energy within it. So... how do you manipulate the energy within a body to alter it's mass without destroying it since you can't eliminate body mass, just manipulate it? Can a 'human' expend the energy in the magic of shifting only to a similar sized creature or does it only have to have the same mass, not size? Then, how do they gather energy to return to a human body? And since you can't destroy 'mass' where does it go? Can they gather energy from their environment? Do they need a magical artifact that they charge with excess power that's somehow an inherent part of their body that allows them to power that change of energy? Does their shift down release that energy into that amulet of sorts and then just take it back? Can they shove their excess mass into that amulet or whatever it is? After all, size isn't mass and sometimes size doesn't denote big, you know? Really, even with using science as a base it all comes down to how creative you can be with whatever scientific principle you decide to espouse.