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Rob looked at his sheet. Rob looked at Marcus. Rob looked at his sheet. “F3,” he ordered. “Fa….” Frowning, Marcus tried the note, wobbling a bit, falling a little high… lower… nope, too low. Shit. “F5.” He worked higher, still wavering as he tried to exercise his voice. Rob grunted. “B2. Si….” Marcus copied him yet again… or tried to. A croaked falter cut him off, and he scowled, trying again. Another sigh. “Alto,” Rob conceded. “Keep on the border, though. When you break, you can
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One week before high school. One week to do everything he needed to do. The pressure was on. Swaying on a bus, Marcus stared obsessively at his phone. Three stops… two stops…. He yanked the yellow cord, and the bus slowed, sending Sakis falling into a man’s lap. “Nice view,” the satyr complimented, only to be shoved away roughly. “Rude….” “Come on,” Marcus grumbled, dragging him off the bus. In the middle of Sacramento, he was almost positive his mother wouldn’t catch them. Still, the th
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“Quite. Like in my report: £20,000 for a... "Candi".” “That’s “Candi” with an I, by the way.” Sakis snorted, breaking off when Marcus raised an eyebrow. He groaned, pausing the video on Marcus’ laptop. “Seriously, congregate with your peers. Get outside, socialise, talk with people your age! LIVE!” Marcus stared at him expectantly. “It’s a common name among prostitutes. You hear “candy”, but it’s actually a person.” “Thank you Walter,” Marcus grinned. “Ugh….” “Hey, the last time
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Fall birthdays sucked. 14 years old meant high school, meant growth, freedom! Yet Marcus trudged into the first day of 8th grade to a crowd of thirteen year olds who thought they were the shit because they could count past three. Silver lining? Patrick was 14, and had been ferried away to Oakmont High School. Marcus had an entire year free of the bastard before he’d have to claw his way free of whatever rumours Patrick had seeded the school with. For as long as he could remember, that asshole
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“That good for nothing bastard!” Marcus slammed his door shut. Picking up a pillow, he hurled it at the wall, making a wholly unsatisfying thump. “Trouble in Lovers’ Lane?” Sakis glanced up from the laptop. “SHUT UP!” “Make me.” Marcus threw himself into his bed, screaming into the fallen pillow. “Calm down there, Achilles.” “He used me!” “Michael?” Sakis shrugged. “Define “used”.” “Do you know what he just said to me?! “So long, and thanks for all the dough”!” “Hitchhiker’s
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“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!” Rufus stared glumly past his mother. On the counter, a small cake sat untouched, thick frosting screaming “Happy Birthday!” to the kitchen. A window looked out at burning streetlights that held night at bay. Sakis’ fingers thundered over a modified keyboard, filling out lists of Doric and Attic words beside English and Latin counterparts — though if Jessica asked, he was working on learning Koine. There was even a colourful bag with a ribbon
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Throughout eternity, normal remained consistently a matter of perspective. Was a child playing catch with his dad normal? It depended on factors like era, livelihood, personal beliefs. Was that same father working 13 hour days pitching death as a grand adventure normal? Era, livelihood, personal beliefs… and the transience of human endurance. It wasn’t normal, not at first. It became normal after weeks, months, of settling into a schedule. Jessica worked from 8 am to 3 pm Wednesday through Sat
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“Meds?” Rufus stuck out his tongue. Beside him, Sakis echoed his “AAAHHH!” “Very funny.” Jessica rolled her eyes. Pulling out her phone, she held it out to Rufus, a stern look on her face. “Now, we’re going to a very crowded place-” “Where?” Rufus demanded. “Need To Know, buddy,” Sean announced, passing by with a bag full of water bottles. “I need to know!” “Too risky. What if the fairies kidnap you and force you to spill the beans?” “Daaad! Fairies aren’t real!” “We are going to
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“ROAD TRIP!” The comforter flew back, baring Rufus to the world. He growled at Sean and rolled over. “Come on come on! It’s a seven hour drive, and we want to be there before noon!” Sean insisted, lifting Rufus’ feet into the air. “Sakis, I need you….” Rufus grumbled into his pillow. And the satyr appeared in the darkest places of the house, the foulest nooks, the dankest crannies. Under Rufus’ bed. “Where is Sakis anyway?” Sean asked as the bed thumped above Sakis. “Trying to sleep!
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“‘We do seem to be somewhere,’ said Diggory. ‘At least I’m standing on something solid.’” Brakes hissed. The bus wheezed to a stop, and Rufus’ voice took on an almost frantic pace. Reading aloud to a quiet audience, he raced to squeeze out one more sentence, one more line before Sakis would be trapped in his void with nothing to entertain him. “‘Why, so am I, come to think of it-’” “Everyone off the bus, and line up toes on the grass,” Mrs. Cunningham called down the aisle. Sighing heavi
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Sakis stabbed the doorbell. Whistling cheerfully with the music inside, the satyr hopped a bit, working out the kinks from interdimensional travel. It took barely half a minute for the doorknob to rattle before falling silent. Muffled voices filtered through the barrier, and the door finally opened to reveal a scowling Rufus and a teen boy behind him. “You keep doing that!” Rufus grumbled. “Ringing the doorbell? I like the music.” Sakis shrugged. “You must be the great and powerful time tr
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DING! Music swelled through the living room, the opening bars of Entry of the Gladiators clamouring to announce the arrival of visitors. Sakis glanced up from where he lay in front of the TV. “I see the circus has arrived.” “It’s Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Eve,” Rufus denied. “They’re staying until Friday. I think.” “In other words, yes, the circus has arrived,” Jessica sighed, heading for the door. “Rufus, change the channel.” “Mammam!” “You can watch this show when my parents aren’t
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5 am. A trumpet erupted from Rufus’ clock, and he shot up as horns swept around the call. A frazzled mind dragged him out of bed, and he stammered out, “Athanasios, I need you!” Sakis appeared on the scene barely a second before the door flew open. Too close. The satyr shuddered as Rufus slapped the clock and Jessica stared wide-eyed at them. The music shut off. Silence lunged at them, only to be swatted aside by Jessica’s laugh. “Well, good morning you two. What’s the occasion?” Rufus g
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Rufus fell asleep. Through a long, dark ride, even with the coming separation, what was a young child to do when dragged out of bed so early? Sakis watched, though. Sakis listened, as Sean and Jessica discussed plans, debated schedules, did everything they could to push away the pain. He knew that strategy all too well — how many summoners had done the same? And when light flooded the car, when they crawled to a stop to flash Sean’s ID at a guard, Rufus finally stirred in his booster, bleari
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The crowd ebbed and flowed around him, always at a respectful distance, always growing, shrinking, regrowing. In this realm outside time, who knew when they arrived or left? Yet Sakis often amused himself by trying to recognise faces. To this point, he had yet to exist beyond sometime around 2100 CE, which implied that Aphrodite was all but forgotten by that period. Nor had he existed before… uh… 430 BCE? Ish? Dates were a bit uncertain given several different calendars, an entirely different
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It took a third day to end the massacre. When Louis returned to camp, they discovered a massive bonfire blazing as soldiers threw cloth, leathers, even some jewellery into the flames. All the spoils of Jaffa were cleansed in fire, and the French even seemed happy to be rid of them. A vicious campaign started through whispers. The army had clearly caught the plague! No, it was just a cold; the plague couldn’t spread in the desert heat. Louis paid little attention to the rumour mill the next d
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The siege began early in the morning. Set to monitoring the Mediterranean coast against any looming naval support, Louis entertained themself instead by watching the artillery corps heaving guns into place atop low hills, aided by the unfortunate infantry who wandered too close. Fortifications were built against answering fire, and somehow, the army managed to get most of the cannon to within 150 metres of the wooden wall enveloping the hilly city. Officially, the siege didn’t actually start
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Yep! I had a lot of fun researching the varieties native to that region. Apparently someone recently found a seed that was around 2,000 years old, and was able to make it sprout.
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Lines scrawled across a parchment, fluctuating between smooth and shaky as Arlo’s ability scores bounced between normal and cursed. He wasn’t directly moving against the crown yet, and the [Geas] wasn’t happy. At the same time, he couldn’t act until the heroes led the charge into Castle Korvosa; Arlo needed their distraction to locate Ileosa and have any chance of besting her. Charging at a well guarded queen with the intent of simply snatching her crown wasn’t exactly conductive toward succes
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Well into that Egyptian winter, rest eluded Louis. They suppressed revolts in the fall, marching from village to village and burning those who refused to surrender, and marching back upon those who had surrendered but who proceeded to change their minds the second the French had moved on. By the time the revolts had been thoroughly quashed, the 2nd Demi-Brigade was sent along the Nile to the coastal city of Damietta, marching near the entire length through steady rain. There, vague promises we
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“My strength is not in my sword, but in my heart. If I lose my sword, I have lost a tool. If I betray my heart, I have died.” “We will search. But resurrection is against his wishes. Not only would it dishonour the dead, but it is unlikely to succeed because his soul is unwilling,” Sera said, gently driving the stake into Godwin’s heart. “We will burn his body, and sell his gear when we return to Korvosa, after finding Serithtial and dealing with the undead threat.” The paladin stared at a c
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They went in hot. Godwin charged through the wide gap in the wall, heading straight for the dragon lurking in the shadows while Arlo covered him with a pistol. Laori’s [Stone Shape] finished a mere second before Sera finished a [Dispel Evil], testing a theory she’d had. If she was right, the dragon would get the hell out of Dodge. If she was wrong… well, the element of surprise was enough to put the wyrm on the back foot. Hopefully. The Pharasmin leapt willingly into the ensuing melee. Godwi
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“First item of note: the castle is under a [Dimensional Anchor] spell.” The group sat under the dubious shelter of the castle’s barbican, on the mainland side of the causeway. A good distance away, orc bodies burned on a massive fire, all that remained of the tribe that had barred Sial’s and Laori’s approach to Scarwall. Their new allies were definitely powerful enough to help Arlo’s group through the castle. They just had to find a way inside. Arlo turned the Pharasmin swirl over between hi
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As it turned out, getting a dozen terrified women to follow him had been the easy part — and that was including having to track them all down. The hard part was barring stone doors from an enemy who had no problem commandeering scrolls of [Stone Shape] and flat out deleting the barriers. Arlo thanked Desna’s lucky stars that the sewer entrance was so well hidden. Only one breach in their defences, and that was feasible to plug with his body. And potions. Over a dozen potions. He wasn’t fight
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Several glass vials shattered on the floor, tossed carelessly over Arlo’s shoulder as he walked. Waste of resources, but also a nice ball of yarn in this labyrinth. He didn’t know where Godwin and Sera were, they didn’t know where he was, at this point, Arlo was going to assume the worst and do what he could to finish the mission. Well, finish part of the mission, at least. Come what may, he was freeing Commander Endrin. If he could, Arlo would add a couple more assassinations to his list, but
