anyone remember that song i used to love? the one called “wild tigers i have known.” i am listening to it now. i miss this song. i miss this jack. but i don’t want to go back. i love the phases of me. i’ve gone through a lot of ‘em. since my graduation from remington, especially. it was all so simple back then. and i tried my damnedest to complicate things. lucky it didn’t get excruciating. i remember back to this phase now. the one that loved this song. the one who thought this song spoke perfectly of him. so hopeful. when i was him, i was very sad. but so incredibly determined. often, when riding in the car going from cleaning one house to the next house, i’d close my eyes. i created a place to go. to seek comfort. to feel free. recently i’ve been traveling deep into my past. finding all of the good times. the times i let myself be ungrateful for. at least, not as grateful as i am for them today. i guess that means i’m fairly unhappy with my circumstances. i will make things better. not that anything is horrible. it isn’t. it’s just that i want more. not more money. not more things. i want more quality experiences. more quality people surrounding me. more quality relationships with the people i have in my life. i want more love flowing from and towards me. i want more purpose. less aimless wandering. i think i have what it takes. this time is different. i’ll make it beautiful. i’ll make it all beautiful.

Silence is a power and a tool
For you
For you
Wild Tigers I Have Known
They send me down
Messin’ around
You keep your heart from your chest
It’ll be gone just like the rest
‘Cause it’s a man’s world
Say all the right words
And hold your heart from your chest
The silence and the color
and their beauty
Stands right and still for you
Holdin’ flames
Holdin’ hands in hearts
And their bindings
held tightly
Lyin’ in the shady grass
Their teeth grinding
Inside is foreign
‘Cause it’s the magic hand
that holds you gently
And turns one into many
And there inside,
it’s bloody to reach boldly
For truth spoken from mouth in his name
There will be wise men
singing, bringing you luck
Now there will be wise men
singing, bringing you luck
Now there will be wise men
singing, bringing you luck
Bringing you love
Now it’s the precious summertime
Hand in pocket
Bright light
Wild Tigers I Have Known
They send me down
Messin’ around
~Emily Jane White

Amos, T. (2009). Abnormally attracted to sin. New York, N.Y.: Universal Republic.

Find it in a library near you

official site

Tocmai am realizat subit [a.k.a m-a lovit inspiratia] ca nu am mai postat nimic nou…. de un an, si cum neuronii mei cer sa fie asternuti in cuvinte pixelate am hotarat, spre fericirea mea si prea nefericirea altora, sa mai bag niste aberatii tipice Issel Revlis pe teava tunului…. si sa trag!

Asadar asa cum ziceam, obsesiile lunii noiembrie:

1.Niste sosete roz absolut dementiale, pe care trebuie sa le procur cat se poate de repede, inainte ca piciorusele de panda sa imi degere din cauza frigului si a zapezii inexistente care ar trebui sa vina cu luna decembrie.

2. Housareala urmatoare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRE6ssTulcI

Desi genul meu de muzica nu include aceste manifestatii, melodia asta m-a obsedat de vreo doua saptamani incoace…. si sincera sa fiu, pare ca se va afla o perioada lunga la categoria obsesii.

3. Fiind noiembrie, obsesiile mele au hotarat sa se rasfranga si asupra Torei Amos, astfel pentru duminicile ploiase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN17rDMGs74

Despre melodia asta se va auzi si prin decembrie

4. J….. despre el se va auzi si peste un an :X

Tinand cont ca toamna se pare ca eu revin la viata, iar obsessile mele se trezesc dupa hibernarea calduroasa de sub valurile de caldura ale verii, astept ca si altii sa  se bucure de zilele ruginii ale toamnei.

…. Issel

Secondo Dirk Hofschire, vice presidente delle analisi di mercato per Fidelity, le condizioni del credito per le piccole aziende dovranno migliorare se gli Stati Uniti vogliono assistere ad una ripresa dell’economia.

La situazione inoltre resta grave nel mercato immobiliare commerciale, le cui attivita’ di prestito rappresentano la preoccupazione maggiore degli istituti attivi nella concessione di quei tipi di credito.

Le societa’ di maggiori dimensioni hanno avuto successo nelle loro operazioni di aumento di risorse di capitale tramite l’emissione di titoli nel mercato del debito, ma alle entita’ piu’ piccole, che fanno affidamento soprattutto sulle banche regionali, non e’ andata cosi’ bene e devono ancora fare i conti con “condizioni restrittive del credito”.

Di parere completamente opposto e’ Jeffrey Saut, Managing Director di Raymond James, per il quale le speculazioni secondo cui l’economia americana sia giunta “alla fine di un’era” sono esagerate e la ripresa e’ destinata a continuare imperterrita.

Fonte:
http://www.wallstreetitalia.com/articolo.asp?art_id=817530

Tori Amos’s first winter offering, some might say Christmas album, has leaked. Midwinter Graces is a collection of some of Tori’s favorites in her own style. To stray away from the christianization of the album, we’ll call it a “seasonal” album. After all, Christmas has Pagan roots. The album contains a duet with Tori’s daughter and a bunch of obscure seasonal ditties. We are sure we will love.

Click here for more information.

I went to video the wild turkeys that have been roaming my sister’s neighborhood for the past couple of months, and they never showed up. The only one I saw was roadkill on I-35 just as we were getting off at Sooner Road…

So I interviewed my sister, my niece and Marc about seeing the gaggle of turkeys that once numbered around 2 dozen, but that has dwindled by about two-thirds as of last week. It’s hunting season, so I guess they’re getting picked off one at a time.

The assignment is due Thursday, so I’ve decided to put a humorous spin on it by blaming the turkeys for not showing up. I still don’t think I have enough raw footage, so I think I will see if I can keep the camera and stuff another day.

To that end, all that stuff has to be back by 8am tomorrow morning, so I have to be on that 7am bus. That means I have to go to bed now.

G’night!

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Tori, my own cat, is a little over 5 years old. Over the years that I have had her we have been thru so many adventures, both good and bad. This “character” may be more anecdotal than fiction. But it will give you a sense of her personality as observed by me over the years and in the times to come. She is my baby girl and dearly loved as much as any daughter would be. Yes, to some of you that sounds quite “old lady with the cats”ish. But get over it!!

March 28, 1999
Live from Philadelphia, PA.
Your hosts: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler

WWF Hardcore Title: Billy Gunn vs. Hardcore Holly vs. Al Snow (w/Head).
Holly is insanely over at this time with the crowd. Holly suplexes Snow on the outside. Snow beats down them with a hockey stick. Gunn thumps him with a food-tray and then breaks a stick over Holly’s back. Snow goes low on him with the broomstick and does some kung-fu stuff. Snow nails Holly with a broomstick and beats up Gunn. Al takes Head and nails both guys. He places up a table in the corner. Holly sends Snow through the table. Gunn hits Snow on the chair with his finisher. As Gunn is pinning Snow, Holly nails him with a chair, and pins Snow himself @ 7:06. Defiantly not a masterpiece, but had some fun spots and got the crowd into it. Not the worst way to start off the PPV,but not the best either. It was funny that everyone who held the hardcore title, which had no credibility, got over immensely with the crowd. * ½

• Highlights are shown from Tag Team Battle Royal hyping up the next match.

WWF Tag Team Titles: Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra) vs. Test & D’Lo Brown (w/Ivory).

The Tag Titles here meant less than they did now, and they wouldn’t pick up until Edge, Christian and the Hardy Boys came along. D’Lo goes for the Powerbomb, but Owen comes off the top and missile dropkicks him. Jarrett rolls into a jackknife for the win @ 3:58. Four minutes for a tagteam match on Wrestlemania!? Give me a break. At least they tried to pack as much as they can in such little time they had, but they couldn’t do that much in four minutes. * ¼

• People give their opinion on the Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn match, as they try to hype it up.

Brawl For All: Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn.

Butterbean catches him with a solid right and stubbles him. He tilts in and knocks Gunn down. Gunn says he’s alright, but Butterbean moves in and nails him with a right cross @ 0:35. Well that’s one way to get a famous person on the show;however, it still sucked.  N/R

Winner Referee’s the Main Event: Paul Wight vs. Mankind.

This was around the time where they couldn’t think of a name for Paul, but then they finally came up with Big Show, and it stuck with him. Show misses a swing. Mankind puts Mr. Socko in. Show starts fighting out of it, but Mankind keeps the hold in. Show finally picks him up and squashes him down to the canvas.  On the outside of the ring, Show hits Foley with a chair. Big Show then beats up Mankind in the ring, and eventually draws a DQ @ 6:50. Vince McMahon comes out pissed, and he starts yelling at Big Show for ruining the plain; then Vince pimp slaps Big Show, and then Big Show levels him. Vince wants to have Big Show the ref because he wants to give Austin a disadvantage, but Big Show screws the plain up. The match would have been better placed on Raw rather than the number one PPV of the year. Also, am I the only one who finds it funny that this beatdown put Mankind out of action, but his fiercer beat downs didn’t? ¼*

• Backstage, Vince wants Big Show to be arrested.

WWF Intercontinental Title, Four Corners: Road Dogg vs. Val Venis vs. Goldust (w/the Blue Meanie & Ryan Shamrock) vs. Ken Shamrock.

Ryan wounded up screwing Val, Billy Gunn, and Golddust to irate Shamrock, whore! Shamrock and Dogg start out the match. RD hits a dropkick and tags in Golddust. Golddust strikes away and throws Shamrock in Val’s corner. Val tags in and attacks Shamrock.Road Dog counters a Northern-Light and gets the Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Shamrock puts in the anklelock, but Val makes it to the ropes. They take it to the outside, and fight up the walkway where they both get counted out. Road Dog and Goldust are left. Shamrock obliterates them. Ryan by mistake grabs Golddust’s ankle, costing him. He gets a powerslam, but Road Dog rolls through it @ 9:47. No story, no structure and zero-percent of psychology; a bunch of spots thrown into one match with no flow. *

Kane vs. Triple H.

A San Diego Chicken comes out and goes after Kane. It turns out to be Pete Rose, but Kane gives him a TombStone, and it is enough distraction for Triple H to sneak behind and lowblow Kane. Kane tosses HHH away after some punches. Triple H sends him to the floor, but Kane lands on his feet, and pulls HHH out. Hunter irish-whips him into the steps.  Triple H gets him over and slams his face on the announce table. Kane nails H’s ribs into the ring-post. In the ring, Kane throws Hunter to the turnbuckle. Chyna then makes her way down to the ring. Hunter gets out of a Tombstone. Kane charges with the steel steps, but Hunter kicks them back in his face. Hunter trips him,and Kane goes face first into the steps. Triple H lariats him over the top. He goes for the Pedigree on the ring steps, but Kane backdrops him. Kane gets the chokeslam, and Chyna gets up on the apron with a chair. Kane turns him back and whack! SWERVE!  Kane wins by dq @ 11:30. HHH and Chyna start doing a beat down on Kane and DX lives on. Couldn’t Chyna have turned on Kane, and still gave us a real finish; seriously, who wants to see a DQ finish on Wrestlemania? Nothing reached 2^nd gear in this match up; kind of felt like both wrestlers were on auto-pilot.  It is amazing how much HHH would improve over the course of this year. ¾*

WWF Women’s Title: Sable vs. Tori.

Sable gets on the mic, and whoever thought it was a good idea for her to talk should have been fired. Tori wrestles her down and punches her in the face. Tori nails her with a sunset flip. Tori accidentally takes out the referee. Tori mingles out of the Sablebomb and goes for her own—but Nicole Bass press slams her. Sable finishes Tori with the Sablebomb at 5:06. This is not even the worse match of the night. -*

European Title: Shane McMahon (w/Test) vs. X-Pac.

Shane avoids the Broncobuster and runs. Test illegal attacks X-Pac from behind and puts him groin first in the ring post. Shane gets pimp slaps X-Pac around. He misses the Corporate Elbow, but Test distracts the ref while Shane gives X-Pac a low blow. Shane takes Test’s belt and beats up X-Pac. Shane to the top, but X-Pac dropkicks him on the top rope. Test takes X-Pac to the outside, but the Pac dodges him. X-Pac kicks the poop out of Shane and nails the Broncobuster. Test gets in and levels him with the belt. Shane misses the Broncobuster. X-Pac nails a spinning wheel kick on Test; followed by the Broncobuster on Test. Triple H runs down and pulls Test out. Chyna distracts the ref long enough, but HHH turns on X-Pac. Shane covers and gets the win at 8:41. The Corporation beats down X-Pac, but Kane makes the save. Shocking swerve by HHH; at least at the time. It was surprising to see of all the matches in the mid-card; this was the best one out of all of them. It would have been better with less overbooking, less inconsistency of the rules and more time. But overall, it was still a solid match, which felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the other crap on this show. ** ½

Hell in the Cell: Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. Big Bossman.

They trade blows, and Taker gets a near-fall off a clothesline. Bossman comes back with a neckbreaker. Taker starts beating him down. Taker jolts him into the cell’s post. Bossman ties Taker up with chains and hits him with his nightstick. The cuffs snap and Taker falls down. Taker gets busted open. Taker hits him with a chairshot. Taker rams Bossman into the cell. Taker hits a flying clothesline for only 2.Taker goes up but can’t hit the Ropewalk forearm because the Cell in too small. Bossman takes the advantage and crotches him on the rope. Taker comes back with the Tombstone Piledriver for the three @ 9:46. Heel vs. Heel barely ever works because the fans don’t know who to cheer for or to boo, so it usually ends up being a dead and a not very interesting crowd. Not only did that take place, the match was awful also. Not the worse match I have ever seen, not even Taker’s worse match I have ever seen, but still pretty damn bad. -***

WWF Heavyweight Title, No DQ: The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Jim Ross replaces Michael Cole and commissioner Shawn  Michaels removes Vince McMahon as ref. Austin and Rock brawl in the crowd, which. They fight to the staging area where Austin throws him into the railing. Austin tries a piledriver, but Rock backdrops him.Austin comes back and stomps a mudpile in the nuts. Austin strangles him with an extension cord and whips Rock into the entrance sign. Back near the announce tables, Rock gives him a water spot. Austin Snake Eyes him on the ring barrier, and follows by an elbow through the Spanish table. Back in, Rock hits a Rock Bottom. ONE-TWO-THR—NO! Rock gets a chair, but Austin takes it away from him. Austin hits the referee with the chair on accident. Austin blocks a chair shot, but can’t hit the Stunner. Rock beats on him with the chair. Tim White comes in. ONE-TWO-NO. Rock puts in a chinlock. Austin fights out of the chin lock but runs into a Samoan Drop for 2. Rock takes the ref out with a Rock Bottom. Rock turns around right into the Stunner! Rock does his overselling on the Stunner. Earl Hebner is the new ref. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Vince McMahon comes down and distracts Austin. McMahon nails Earl Hebner and joins the Rock in beating down Austin. Mankind comes out and throws Vince out of the ring. Austin gets two off a schoolboy, but hits a Thez Press. Rock regroups with the Rock Bottom. The Corporate Elbow misses, and Austin counters another Rock Bottom to the Stunner. ONE-TWO THREE! Austin wins @ 16:51. The typical Russo overbooking works here as this match is very fun. Not on par with their matches to come such as WM-17 and 19, but a great effort here. Some noticeable flaws in the match, and an obvious botch, but it didn’t make this less exciting. The match really didn’t have a dull moment, which it good, but I could have gone without the typical Attitude Era crowd brawling. The final sequence was really put together well, and created some good drama. One of the best matches of WWF in 1999, but that’s not really saying much. *** ½

Going Home: This is what happens when you allow Russo to book a Wrestlemania; it turns out to be one of the worse ones up to date. 2 out of 10 of the matches are above bad, and everything else basically is garbage. Wrestlemania should be about wrestling, mostly. Of course you can have your actors, famous people, and all the other entertainment stuff, but Wrestlemania is you’re “A” show, and you should build previous shows up for this one. In this case, Russo used this show to build up angles for the future, and for the show. Wrestlemania shouldn’t be based on storylines and angles; it should be focused on the wrestling. Raw is where you mostly focus on angles and storylines. It is pretty much 101 booking that you use TV shows to build up PPV. Russo still to this day does not understand that concept, and TNA’s buyrates are that low for that reason.

Two Thumbs Way Down.

So basically I have this list of funny quotes that I’ve been keeping since 6th grade (I’m amazed it’s lasted that long) and I’m trying to figure out the Top Ten. So I’m gonna list most of them here and number them and put up a poll.

1. “That’s what YouTube says!” -Katherine (on the age limits for Quizilla users)
2. “Kai, I’m gonna kill you!” -Sydney
3. “Fame is good.” -Erin (on me singing tenor in chorus)
4. “Sometimes I wonder what happens around here when I’m gone.”    -Lydia (on the aftermath of her 3-day absence from science class)
5. “I’m Susie – the little innocent girl who moved next door.” -me (trying to get out of a quiz)
6. “It’s the story of your life!” -Sydney (on Kai’s made-up life story)
7. “Do you like Max? as a friend?” -Tory (randomly in the middle of math class)
8. “Sorry, we’re not allowed to talk to you.” -Kai (talking to Riana)
9. “Seven point seven?!?! That’s bilingual!” -Emma
10. “I hope they didn’t hear my knuckles cracking.” -Sydney (while we’re still recording of course)
11. “Imagine this. You’re sitting in one of those little theater chairs and all of a sudden you turn around and you see a dead body sitting next to you! Then you realize that it’s your jacket.” -me
12. “Do pine trees have pine cones?” -Layne
13. “You’re getting train tracks in your mouth!” -Eric
14. “Let’s call Daddy!” -Toy Phone
15. “Can we con them?” -Ahmad and Jonathan (on Y1K)
16. “…check the computers, make sure you’re not a terrorist…” -our history teachers (on passports and airports)
17. “This is {our school’s name}. You came in second place.” -our math teacher (on Max losing his soccer game)
18. “My biggest dream is to see Harrison and Ringo Starr, in skirts, sumo wrestling with Sarah Palin and Max as the judges. -Kai & I (on guys in skirts, Sarah Palin, and sumo wrestling)
19. “Fiddlers and actors named Topol.” -me (in response to our history teacher’s question, “What does Russia remind you of?”)
20. “If I were a boy…” -Nancy (on playing a guy)
21. “I’m so much older than everyone that I think eighteen-year-olds are twelve-year-olds.” -Mary (on guessing Joshua’s and my age)
22. “She ated my fishie.” -Lizzie
23. “What’s wrong with Laura?” -Owen (on my sudden addiction to songs from the 50’s and 60’s)
24. “It’s where you can like bend in weird ways and stuff.” -Delaney (trying to describe flexibility)
25. “No, that’s contortion!” -Morgan (On Delaney’s description of flexibility)
26. “You sound like a rubber duck.” -Katherine (on my laugh)
27. “There better not be a front and a back on this.” <flips over page> “I hate you, {science teacher’s name}.” -Katherine (on her science homework)
28. “Is he trying to kill us?” -Katherine (on her science teacher walking in the door right after the previous quote)
29. “Are you like creating your own quote list?” -Cohen (on this list)
30. “Destiny equals mass divided by volume? … Wait what? You mean I can theoretically figure out my destiny?” -Katherine (on misreading the word “density”)
31. “I don’t wanna wear a trash bag to school!” -Jessica (on her school’s ‘Trash the Yellow Jackets’ campaign)
32. “You play that song during break and I’ll rip your mouth off.” -Erin (on the song “Chapel of Love” by The Dixie Chicks)
33. “I kind of want a girl now so I can have her wear a big bow.” -our math teacher (on his new dog)
34. “You know you want me in your little corner.” -our chorus teacher (to the tenors)
35. “Subways scare me.” -Kai (randomly during French class)
36. “My gym teacher says I’m too skinny and I don’t have to participate in gym.” -Beth (on gym class)
37. “And that is how you do it.” -Bryan (on him, Mike, and Brad singing like 3 songs nonstop and scaring everyone bysinging really high)
38. “Hey, why are you looking at my computer? There’s nothing going on here.” -Colin and Charlie (on who knows what)
39. “What kind of world do we live in?” -Sydney (on interesting, nice, American, young, cute English teachers in France)
40. “I have an Adam’s Apple? Yes!” -Ahmad (in health class…)
41. “What’s the country with the largest amount of obese people? That’s right, America!” -our health teacher (what was funny was that our whole class sounded happy about this)
42. “The tailor Motel Kamzoil… That’s me!” -Bryan (on being sung about in “The Dream” -he played Motel)
43. “Do they have caffeine?” -Travis (on soda)
44. “I’m from the Bronx.” -Mike (in response to “Mendel’s” line, “Where are you from?” – his character, Perchik’s, real line is “Kiev.”)
45. “Laura, you keep laughing.” -Sydney (on me laughing every five seconds during my health presentation)
46. “Okay, so I have to ask you. What’s the deal with the shades?”-Rocio (on me wearing sunglasses to an indoor rehearsal)
47. “That girl’s up to her girls in something.” -Griffin (a misread word…)
48. “Can I go to the bathroom?” “That’s an interesting name for a bone.” -Leighton and Joanna (in health class)
49. “Don’t bite the and that feeds you. Especially if it’s feeding you Chick-fil-A.” -Katherine (on her lunch)
50. “… if I grew up…” -Isabelle (doesn’t matter what it’s on. She’s going to grow up someday.)
51. “I asked my mom to get me a Buddha for Christmas.” -Colleen
52. “I forgot about JC being a guy.” -Kai (on belly dancing during French class)
53. “Every time you take a picture, you steal part of someone’s soul.”      -Tori (on why she doesn’t like having her picture taken)
54. “How do parents end up in every conversation?” -Sydney (on yo mama jokes in health class)
55. “She’s my hero.” -Ryan (on Miley Cyrus)
56. “Why is Dora so mad?” -Eric (on the picture in my background)
57. “Look at me with a straight face and say, ‘I’m bad at math.’” -Katie (in a super advanced math class)
58. “WE’RE SKIPPING WORDS!!!!!!!!” -Pierre (in the middle of Mass)
59. “They messed up 23 times.” -Patrick (on Tommy and Kelly altar serving)
60. “I found out that even though he’s like the leader of the group, Tristan is very immature. And he snores really loud. -Drew (on Mr. Tristan at the EDGE retreat)
61. “YELLOW CAR!” -Pierre (on the EDGE bus)
62. “Regular schools play dodge ball, but here at CA we do PILATES!!!! -Nina and Kai (on yoga in gym class)
63. “Isn’t there a person named Urethra Franklin?” -Ashley (in health class)
64. “That’s what’s inside you.” -Nina (to Jacob and Andrew on her picture from her health class notes)
65. “Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they make it even.” -Nick

Okay so here’s the poll… Just a reminder: choose your favorite out of the 65 quotes above, and select the number down in the poll:

Sitting in school, with nothing to do for another hour or two…three.
As many of you have noticed, today is the first day of snow here in Stockholm and supposedly all over Sweden.
Though it isnt real snow, because as soon as it touches the ground it turns into slushy water.
I am a fan of real fairytale like snow, really thick and white…almost like another substance, but thats not for here…

I have refound my love for real trance music, I have started to listen to the great System F and Armin van Buuren!

What better than to satisfy not only your ears, but your eyes; so watch this movie with the wonderful Tori Black^^

My gift to y’all this cold, bitter thursday noon ^^
-Tonight is training and fun with friends, Im gonna be filmed trixing and fighting and then it is just one more day until the weekend which means leisure and party…GREAT!
The weeks sure go fast, but thats the way it should be, work fast – holiday slow.

I’m begining to post my NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) here… Be ready: it includes all of last years (what I kept), all of the things that have been added to that portion this year, and finally this years NaNo- although it won’t be everything. A bunch of my writing includes my side notes on where I want the story to go.

“Summary/Intro”

Aaron Lirin Reno had fallen in love with the “City of the Future” when she’d first laid eyes on it. She couldn’t be sure why the city struck her so, but it did. And it struck her hard. Perhaps it was the need to escape from the weight of her family, perhaps the need for some thing radically different from her boring life, it could have even been that she some how knew what the city would become to her in the years to come—or, mayhap, it was a combination of all of that, but most likely it was a chance to express herself in its art departments. Family was a major part of why she’d decided to attend John Shima University, even if she’d never admit it. She was under to much pressure, to much stipulation, from her family name—she was supposed to be smart, persuasive, seemingly indifferent, and political… It didn’t help that she was most of those, indifference was the only one she truly lacked. She was too passionate, her mother always told her, and she should be more like her brother Chris. The teen didn’t want to be any thing like her brother, sure he looked after her but she couldn’t stand his snide personality! Joan Reno seemingly understood his daughter, he didn’t try to force away the passion even if it would, in many ways, cripple her in the world of politics… But would be good if she followed his footsteps in to an ambassadorial role, and so that is how he groomed her—to become an ambassador with out trying, she would have a place by his side as soon as she graduated from college, and at his death she would take on his role. She didn’t want that either, even if she got along well with the current head of the Villa. Kistunea Kotou and she were friends, she couldn’t see herself as an ambassador because of that! So in the end going to JSU was an act of rebellion, even more so when she declared that she was majoring in Art. She would not be going in to politics, but in to Video Game Design—that was what she had planned.

Every thing had gone wrong. Every thing. Nakimono was no more than a ghost of what it had been, it had been beautiful when she had moved in to the dorms, beautiful like she’d always seen it in the years before, and she’d been looking forward to returning after the winter break but she could never have known what she’d return to. Fog shrouded the city upon her arrival to it’s outskirts, a foreshadowing of what could possibly come, a dark shadow over the City of the Future.

RUINS of NAKIMONO

Pain blossomed in her right arm as the metro’s door attempted to shut on top of it. The panic powered her to move past the pain, the panic of every thing that was outside of the metro-car, panic… She hoped that none of the creatures were in the car with her, that would be bad, she could only do so much and some how she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to defeat these… these zombies. And it was through the fire of panic that she realized what must be done—she had to get back to the University, get back there in order to save her friends. Movement behind her, and instantly she fell backwards, wedging herself against the door as groans resonated through the car. They were in the car—but why was it moving… how? Unless they’d figured out a way to drive… or some one was still in the cabin. And if some one was in the cabin, they probably had no idea what was going on (not that she had any clue, but at least she’s seen what the city had become. Infested.) No. She knew she didn’t have time to worry about the driver, even if the person may become important soon, she had to take care of herself first.

Zombie was the only description she could come up with for the creatures that roamed the town. Not all of them looked human, and she had quickly learned that those were much harder to kill than the humanoid ones—luckily those in the car all seemed to fit the stereo-type of the classic zombie. Headshots. Destroying the brain… that wasn’t going to be easy, not with the fact that she was unarmed. She knew enough about hand-to-hand fighting to keep herself from getting bitten (or killed) but that didn’t matter. It wouldn’t work as well in this cramped space as it had on the streets, where it was open, where she had endless possibilities to run to.

Heart beating, she could almost swear it was in her throat with how loud it sounded to her ears. So loud, and then her panic ceased. She entered a state of calm that she had never even known existed—she had no choice in her actions, no chance to question them unless she wanted to die, and she really didn’t want to, she still had to much to live for. But how? How could she possibly defend herself from these creatures?

To close, her reaction almost came to slow as she flinched backwards away from the yellow teeth and rancid breath. It was instinct that allowed her to adapt her flinch into something useful, she spun downwards—further away from the hungered mouth—and kicked. Kicked out at the knee-cap, in a hope to cause the creature to fall down. It worked, the knee-cap collapsed where her foot connected underneath bone, but it was only one among many who were vying to get to her. Glancing around, and finally up, she thanked her lucky stars her mother had insisted that she take gymnastics. The idea wasn’t the best one she had ever had, but it was the only way past these things that she could figure. The leather straps that served as hand-holds when the metro was moving would just have to work to create her path. Her hands were sweaty as she reached up and gripped the first of the rungs, but despite every thing it actually worked, she was able to hoist herself upwards and onto them, using the talents that had lain latent for years. It wouldn’t work forever, though, all that was left was to hope that her straining muscles—muscles that were tired from hours of running—would hold out long enough to get her to the other side of the metro car, get her to the door that she could slip through (and with any luck, her mind added, block). It wasn’t easy, she could allow her concentration to slip from her movement forward, but the moans (and the occasionally scrap of ragged flesh against her back) were highly distracting and her fear… Her fear was mounting higher and higher as she inched along the ceiling. She couldn’t let it interfere… She wasn’t ready to die here.

Reaching the door, she looked for a place to flip back down—but they were on all sides of her, all sides including below. So she kicked out with her legs, flipping herself so that her back faced the roof so that she could keep the least amount of her body from the chance of being eaten. She kicked, trying to clear the area, her foot made contact with a wet crunch, breaking the top of a man’s skull, and instantly he fell. She had her opening. Hitting the ground, she slipped through the doors, not even bothering to look and see what lay on the other side.

Chapter One: Ruins of the Future

The clouds darkened the sky, blocking out even the lights from the buildings, the world silent in the dead of night, except for the distant roar of a bike.

Long hair trailed down her back, seemingly motionless despite the roaring of the wind, desperation written on to her face as she hung from the railing. The rain poured against her skin, bruising with its silent pitter-patter, her hands were slipping despite the cloth in-between her own skin and the cold metal. She dared not look below her, at the five-story drop that awaited her if she could not gain enough leverage to pull herself over the rail. Biting her lip she silenced the curses that threatened to spill from her mouth as she felt the stitches in her side ripping apart, it wouldn’t have been so bad except that the wound itself was hardly a week old and medication was scares. But she couldn’t allow the pain to even register in her mind, because if she did than her fate was sealed.

‘It’s times like this’, she thought, ‘that I truly despise this town.’ Even while thinking it, part of her mind whispered that it wasn’t true—she loved this place, even if every thing had dissipated in to chaos, simply because it represented who she was as an individual, not who her family was. It wasn’t the town she hated, it was the situations she was forced in to… ‘Damn, I’m never listening to Shaun again. Simple run, no trouble, my ass!’ Her mind supplied that she should have known that nothing was going to be easy, especially out side of the university grounds. The infection had slowed in its spread—after it had already eradicated practically every one out side of JSU, she only knew of a handful of survivors that did not thrive in dorms, the runner didn’t know how long they would actually last. The other pockets of survivors weren’t all that bright, they didn’t even stop to think of gathering their own food—instead they shot at any thing that moved, picking the pockets of those that still looked human.

The gloves on her hand were doing nothing for friction, seemingly not even willing to grip the rail, and she knew that she was going to fall. Sudden warmth forced her to turn her head upwards in to the steady stream of water, “’rin! Still getting yourself in to these situations I see. You’re lucky I managed to spot you!”

That voice was too cheerful, to joyous for the city’s situation, but still familiar, calming her already racing nerves in to knowledge that she would live—but this person didn’t seem to have any fear of what was out there… Were they not aware of the situation?  ‘No’, her mind whispered, ‘they’d have to know unless they’re out siders. And there is no way I would be that familiar with an out sider’s voice at the moment.’ But she could be wrong, she knew that, and as the arms pulled her back on to the landing she found herself staring at the figure in front of her. “Aeron. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Apparently saving your ass, ‘rin. No hello?” Stark black leather was slick with rain, amethyst details cutting through the darkness like reflector tape, Aeron’s gloved hands were still on the other’s shoulders, making sure that she was supported.

“A hello can wait till were some where safe.” She shrugged the other off of her, readjusting the black bag that was slung across her chest. “Shit, Gyffes, do you know what you stumbled in to?”

“You clinging to a rail for your life?” Aeron sighed, she knew the other could be difficult, but to act like this… some thing must really be wrong in the city. “Kotou sent me.”

“Kitty sent you? To what, check up on me?”

“’rin, she was worried about you, hell even I’ve been worried about you! No contact and now that I’m in the city? I find the damn place is like a ghost town.”

“Ghost town? This place is nothing like a ghost town, if you haven’t run in to any thing yet you’ve been lucky. Luckier than most, in fact.” She winced as static echoed from the walkie-talkie tucked in to her belt. “What is it?”

“Reno? You still in the inner barrier?” Even with the voice whispering across the line, the concern that filled it was evident.

“I’m on Harring’s and Ferion.” The runner didn’t even bother to think before her response, and ignored the single raised violet eyebrow directed at her by Aeron. The inner barrier, that was what a good number of people called the outer-rim, it wasn’t quite the outskirts of town but it was as close as they ever got. After she reported her place, Reno thought that knowing why would be a good idea. “Why?”

“Movement. Aki gave the order to shut the gates, I’ll tell ‘em to Ferion last, so hurry.”

“’rie, Aki knows that I can take care of myself.” She sighed in to the device, knowing that the other girl would listen to what she had to say and not hold a grudge against the professor.

“I know, Reno but…” Reno knew what the other girl was thinking, just as she knew that the sentence would never be finished, the words left to hang there in the air while they resonated in both of their minds.

Looking up at Aeron, mismatched eyes met with lime eyes, and Reno found all the tension that came with the call draining from her body. It didn’t matter if Aeron didn’t know what was going on, the fact that she was here allowed the younger girl to have some one to lean on, some one she could afford to lean on… ‘I don’t have time to explain it to her’, she reminded herself, knowing that speed was the key to surviving, and that they had to get to the barrier. Shaking her head, Reno broke eye contact, “How far is your bike?”

“Near the other end of the block,” Aeron didn’t even wait for Reno to begin leading the way, nor for a response, she turned, swinging herself on to the landing of the fire escape a few feet below. Reno followed, moving with the same swiftness displayed by the woman in front of her. “’rin? What is moving that has Aki so freaked?”

“Not now, Gyffes, we’ll discuss that later. Concentrate on getting to the other side of the barrier first.” Reno knew she really should answer the question, just in case they did run in to what was out there, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. No one would think she could be sane with what she would say, no one would believe her, although in many ways she knew that Aeron probably would, Aeron had seen things just as strange, just as supernatural as what haunted the streets of Nakimono. However, Reno couldn’t help but to believe that supernatural didn’t even begin to describe what was going on in the City of the Future.

Tall buildings rose around them as the hit the ground at a run, shrouded in the mist that seemed to pollute every bit of land in Nakimono and the surrounding area. They had been lucky, the building they had been atop was the shortest in the area, the others rising higher than five stories by two or three times. Street lights dotted the edge of the road, although the light that they offered was limited by the vaporous air, the air thick with shadows allowing the eye’s sight to be greatly limited. But the ears had no such limit, and even in the fog, even after the few months that had passed since it had all begun, Reno knew what the muffled sound of footfalls were, what the distant scrape-snap-scrape meant, and that they might not even make it to the bike before they were over run by a mob.

Light dimmed by the fog cut through the darkness, and Reno realized that Aeron had already reached the bike… but the gunshot that rang in the air quickened Reno’s already hurried pace. Sliding on the pavement, she let the friction bring her up next to the bike, her hand already flinging the knife from her boot at the hunching figure descending on her friend. As the cool of the blade left hand Reno was already reaching for another, her voice catching in her throat as she struggled to scream out to the other, moans mingling in to her desperation. “Aeron, don’t touch it!”

“Kinda late to be telling me that, ‘rin!” The other replied, her voice cracking as she frantically worked to free her hands from the now-smoking gloves that adorned them. But, although getting the gloves off was important, Reno realized Aeron had already forgotten about the cause, and their earlier urgency. ‘And she’s supposed to be a military genius!’

Using her momentum, she slid in to a turn releasing the next knife as another figure hunched forward, but to late she realized that the release was flawed. Reno had to bite her lip as the metal bit in to the palm of her hand, digging in to the scar tissue that had once allowed her to feel no pain, and now she wished that the feeling of nothingness still echoed through her arms. Even before the runner had finished her movements, Aeron had moved in to action, rolling to kneel next to her bike. The liquid that threaten to burn through her gloves hand left her hands tingling, feeling as if in moments they would burn and turn in to a layer of giant blisters. if that happened she wouldn’t be able to grip the Kerino-Kotou pistol she was about to draw. And the soldier knew that being able to wield the firearm was key, other wise these… creatures… would be able to get close enough to touch her again, and the pistol was the only long range weapon she could easily gain access to.

In the same movement of drawing the pistol, Aeron propelled herself on to the seat of her bike, never once looking away from the figures silhouetted in the fog. Moments passed when the solid warmth of another body was settled in the seat behind her, hands gripping the straps that adorned the back of her black vest. She felt herself panicking, the creature before wasn’t warm… was she encountering some thing else entirely now? Why hadn’t Reno warned her? Blonde hair flickering in to her sight answered her question, the body was Reno. The realization hadn’t even processed before the bike’s engine was gunning to life, speeding forward and around a curve.

“Well, ‘rin, if I’m gettin’ us outta here, I kinda need directions!”

Light flickered from the candles placed by the windows, but it was the glow of computer screens that illuminated the two figures. The room was plush in decoration, the heavy shadows created an oppressing atmosphere turning the reds and bronze of the decorations to appear dark an ominous. Low lying fog rolled out side of the large windows, casting the room in to further darkness, fingers of shadows creeping in and out from the belly of the room.

“I know she said she’d be fine, but, Aki, we can’t just shut her out!” Annette Karin Marshall, nicknamed the Pirate of JSU, and given the name of ‘rie by Reno, was pissed. The twenty year-old didn’t understand the move that the man in front of her was making, she knew how close he was to Reno, and it was far closer than she had gotten in the scant months the other girl had been at the university. And yet, despite being so close, he was still willing to lock Reno out, with a horde moving in on her—she wasn’t sure what the horde was composed off, it could be a number of things but all the options spelt disaster for the other girl.

Slouched over in a arm chair, Adi Zadock , professor of International History and Politics, concentrated on his fingers that were working circles in to his temples, ignoring the angry girl. He didn’t fault Annette for her anger, he couldn’t… but this was his decision, and the decision he knew Reno, herself, would have ordered. The former priest knew that ‘rie was angry because, despite every thing, she was not aware of what Reno was capable of. Reno had long ago proven herself inept in avoiding pursuers and pulling herself—not to mention others—out of trouble, and that why he felt no remorse for locking the barriers, locking her out with the mob that was approaching her location. Adi considered himself lucky, he’d known the other for most of her life, he’d seen her grow up, he knew her strengths, he knew her weaknesses… With every thing he knew of her, Adi felt confident in his assumptions of her decisions. Even knowing all this, the middle-aged man knew that Annette wouldn’t calm down till Reno was here and in one piece. Unfortunately Annette’s worry was contagious and he felt the itch of unease worming up his spine.

“Stop it, Annette. Your pacing won’t make any thing better, in fact I think its making things worse.” Rubbing his eye sockets with the back of his palm, Adi the professor pulled himself in to a standing position, “Frankly? The pacing is making me nervous. Now why don’t you do some thing productive? I’m going to check in with Shaun and Barbie, see if they have a fix on what it is that’s moving out there.”

Annette halted in her stride, staring in shock at the man. How could he just leave? He wasn’t even dealing with the situation! “Professor! I’m not done talking with you!”

“Well, Ms. Marshall, I’m finished with this conversation, feel free to continue it with yourself.” Adi walked in to the hall, some times he really couldn’t stand people. That was a fault for any religious figure, which is why the professor had turned from the priesthood in to teaching. Though, his annoyance with Annette wasn’t the only reason he was leaving, he really wanted to talk to those checking the monitors. Shaun was especially good at noticing things moving through the dense fog that covered the city, but then again, Adi couldn’t help but think, he was from the family responsible for the city’s plague. Shaun’s last name, his real one, had been kept a secret from the general population—the professor understood why the boy had decided to do this, but that didn’t change the fact that he knew that Shaun was a Shima, so he couldn’t help but doubt the boy’s loyalty.

So lost in his thoughts he almost didn’t see the other person till he ran in to them, stumbling backwards while catching a glimpse of white-blue hair. Scratching the back of his head, a look of apology written on his face he began to move again towards the so-called ‘intelligence room’ where Shaun was sure to be.

“Professor!” The girl shrieked from her place on the ground, a look of almost heartbreak echoing across her whole body, “You aren’t going to help me up?”

“I’m sorry, Xain, I really need to check on what’s going down at the outer wall.”

“That’s why I’m out here instead of looking at the monitors!” Barbie Xain, called Bai by most, was one of the youngest individuals located in the security of the campus, but, perhaps, one of the smartest as well. Many times Bai hated her own intelligence because it placed her with no friends for a good half of her life—then she’d came to Nakimono with her mother. Her move had brought an expectance of every thing about her, age wasn’t a question that came with doubt of knowledge, and the move came with friends. She was no longer alone, and that was why she had been in a rush to find the Professor.

“Aeron’s with her! And she brought a bike… the gates are still being closed but they’ll probably make it in.  Reno’s going to be alright.” She grinned up at him, white teeth flashing, their presence shinning even more due to their resemblance of her hair.

Adi didn’t even look at her, it was good that Reno had found a way to get back with out taking much damage (or causing it), but he still didn’t know what it was that roamed where she was attempting to flee—and thus, he still needed to see Shaun. “Xain, go tell Annette that… may be she’ll stop pacing.”

“Does this mean that she’s bringing Aeron back with her? I hope she does.” Perhaps one of the only people that had met Aeron, Bai truly liked the woman. She was sarcastic, witty, and calm—most of the time, she did have a crazy streak—and had instantly taken Bai under her wing. In fact, before Aeron, Bai hadn’t gone by that, she’d still gone by her hated name Barbie. The older woman had told her that every one needs a good “code-name,” but when she asked what the other’s was she’d been laughed at and told to just continue to use “Aeron.” She was the one person that Bai knew it was alright to be fully herself with.

“I doubt she’d leave any one behind, not to what we’re facing.” Adi moved down the hallway, knowing that Bai wasn’t waiting for any thing else, just a confirmation that both women would be coming back to the University. “Reno’s not stupid enough to let there numbers increase.”

“Thanks, Professor.”

The former priest simply waved back at the girl before turning a corner that would lead him towards the computer lab that Shaun was sure to be in; despite what Bai had told him, there were still other questions that he needed answered. He wanted to know what Reno would be dealing with if the gates were closed before she made it through, the fact that she had a bike… That didn’t mean any thing in the current state of affairs. There were too many dangers that had the potential to lurk around any curve, and the professor knew that all to well—after all it was not being careful enough that got one of his former companion, and fellow staff member, killed. Adi Zadock knew when he needed to be careful, and a lifetime of mistakes only added to his ability to predict danger. And that sense was screaming at him that things were soon going to go horribly wrong.

Things were complicated as it was, Adi wasn’t looking forward to any new troubles.

Fingers furiously working at the key-board, aquamarine eyes scanned over the screens that covered the corner of the dark room. Images moving as if they were pages on a magazine that was being flipped through, images that were distorted by the fog that flowed constantly throughout the city, images that could possibly reveal the answers for all the questions that surged frantically through his head. In screen in the upper right had screen focused on images of two women on a motorcycle, but that screen hardly held his eyes, they were focused on the other screens in that row. Screens that showed hunched shadow figures. Damn. The eyes need a clear image to work with, other wise the only thing that would be known was that there was some thing out there, no answers to what it was. Shadows seemed to be the bane of his existence… Shadows and the fog. Those two things made his job that much harder.

He took his job seriously, after all he blamed himself for his family’s mis-transgressions, felt responsible for the chaos that had effected the city, responsible for all the countless lives that had been lost. Why had the labs ever developed some thing that could cause… this? His uncle should have known better than to ever okay any thing that could have caused such horror. Shaun Roy Shima needed to way to stop this, to redeem himself in his own eyes, and find value again in his family’s name. But there wasn’t much he could do, he wasn’t athletic nor was he much of a fighter. Thank god they still had power for the computers or else he would have been completely useless… At least right now he could keep the video streaming in side of the school, so that they could keep a look out for their people in the field—and Reno had congratulated, even thanked him, when he’d gotten the system working; even went so far as to put him in charge of surveillance, allowing him to move what he needed… Had given him a way to feel useful. Shaun knew that watching out for her on the streets was no where near enough to pay the girl for what she’s done, but it was a start.

As deep as he was in his thoughts, Shaun almost didn’t hear the light rapping on the door frame, where Adi Zadock waited to be acknowledged. He figured the other man must have come to see if there was any word on what was chasing down there “fearless leader.”

“Fogs too thick, Zadock. I don’t have enough light to work on figuring out what the devil is out there… Humanoid, though, that one’s for sure.” His voice was low, huskily lilting through the room so that only those with in it could hear his words. “I can’t give you any thing more than that.”

“You sure, kid? Normally you can give me more than just ‘it’s humanoid.’” Shaun knew that the older man was annoyed with his answer to the unspoken question, but its not like he could do any thing about it—After all there was only so much any one person could manage when hacking.

“It looked like there was some thing wrong with it, Reno’s new pal tore of her glove after it touched one of them.” That was all he could give, and Shaun desperately hoped it was enough to please the professor.

“Acidic? That’s interesting, I’ve never seen one of them… Annette said that she’d run in to one that spit acid, but I don’t believe she said it was humanoid.”

“I can’t believe that you think any of these vile… things are interesting.” Venom filled the technician’s voice, how could Adi think that these creatures were interesting? How could he flaunt that interest in front of Shaun, who was still blaming himself for the actions of his family?

“How can you deny it? Just because they are horrible creations doesn’t mean they can’t draw upon interest.” The former professor now stood beside him, not looking at him, focusing on the screens to clearly ignore the look that graced Shaun’s face at his reply.

“I don’t care what you think, or say… interest in these creatures is just wrong.”

“And who’s family was it that created them? Some one must have thought they had potential.”

It was a low blow, and both of them knew it. Adi quickly looked down to find the younger man staring blankly in to his lap, absently petting the orange tabby that slept there. It was the wrong move to make, and Adi regretted ever saying it—he knew that Shaun was nothing like the rest of his family, he simply wasn’t cunning or manipulating enough to be grouped with the others, he didn’t use people for his own means unless to worked for those he was trying to manipulate as well. The professor placed his hand on the student’s shoulder, “I didn’t mean it, Shaun.”

Shaun didn’t reply, just continued to pet the tabby, stroking it with such care that any one watching could tell that it was all he was paying attention to. Aquamarine eyes staring in to space, not even bothering to look at the cat, and it was that action that told Adi that he was wanted out of the room.

“I’ll send Xain back up here, I want word when Reno makes it past the wall.” With that said, Adi Zadock exited the room, leaving Shaun to possibly sink even further in to himself, and in to the self-loathing he had created.

As soon as he knew the man was no where near, Shaun picked up the tabby, cuddling it to his chest, “Some times, Darcy, I think you’re the only thing I have.”

Those whispered words were all he bothered to say before allowing the tabby to sink back in to his lap, and his eyes returned to the monitors and his ever diligent task of watching them. Looking back at the screen in time to see that Reno was ridding straight towards danger.

Pounding, loud claps echoing through her skull, that was all Aeron could hear, and it seemed that of the two on the bike she was the only one—and the soldier knew that the pounding was a foreboding of danger. And knowing her luck, she guessed it would come out of the shadowy ally-way dead ahead. She spun the bike to a stop, twitching at the screech the breaks made as they tried to stop on the moistened gravel. Lime eyes glanced back, what ever had been behind them was still there, further behind than they had been before.

“Aeron! We can’t exactly afford to stop unless you want to end up ditching the bike before scaling a wall.” Reno was gripping her shoulders in a vice grip, nails pushing small pressure points through the leather of her outfit.

“Shut it, ‘rin.” Her eyes scanned the shadows, looking for what ever it was that caused the pounding—it couldn’t be the ‘gates’ closing, could it? No. She doubted that Reno would allow any one to construct gates that made such noise as they closed. So the pounding had to be dangerous, and all Aeron could do was hope that her friend knew another way. “Is there another way to the entrance?”

“Not if we want to get there before it closes all the way.” Reno relaxed her hands, moving her hands off the other’s shoulders so that she could relax back in to the seat of the bike. “Some thing wrong?”

“Yes. We need to not— Shit.” Aeron looked at the thing that waltzed out of the shadows. It was similar to a possum, but it was… quite the unusual size, but the soldier guessed that would be an understatement—after all it was the size of her bike. Its tail pounded against the cars that littered the sides of the street. “Mind explain where the hell that came from.”

“Well… the possums in the woods are about half that size normally… may be nuclear radiation?”

Just the way that Reno had said that allowed for Aeron to understand that she was trying to hide the truth, that she didn’t want the soldier to know. And that in itself, the lack of trust in a friend she’d known for years, was what irked Aeron the most about the situation. “The truth would be nice.”

“Not the time, or the place, Gyffes. May be, oh I don’t know, once we get to some where, relatively, safer I can actually explain it—and not when we’re running for our lives about to get eaten!”

“Any ideas how to kill it?” It was getting to close, Aeron noticed, more than a close enough for her to begin panicking at the foam that dripped from the creature’s green-white teeth. Twisting the handle-bars she gunned the engine, but she didn’t know which way to go to escape from the creature— Aeron had two fear at the moment, getting lost in a city fully of demonic creatures, and getting stuck fighting (and ultimately eaten) by the thing in front of her.

“Head shots, generally, but… we have a hard-ass time getting through the thick skull to its brain.”

We? No, Aeron didn’t have time to ponder that—and then it hit her. Head shots, didn’t you kill zombies with head shots? “Are you telling me these things are zombies? What the hell did you do?”

“What did I do? You think I caused this?”

“In a word? Yes!” Aeron fidgeted, pulling her pistol from where it rest on her leg, eyes narrowing as the creature got even closer. Zombies. She’d seen a lot of things in her life as the leader of the Mu Unit, hell she’s seen a lot of strange things before that, but Aeron never though that she’s see some thing that could be called a zombie! “You’re the most troublesome person I’ve ever met. I’ve never been able to be around you and not find some kind of trouble! You and Kitty both!”

“I had nothing to do with this! Nothing!”

A static hiss, “Uh… Reno? Don’t you think you should may be focus on the ‘possum?”

Shaun? Why is he—oh. The cameras, but that means he most likely has a clear view, wonder if he’s been messing with the systems again? Reno had to say she was happy to hear from the younger boy, he had been quite and withdrawn since the incidents first began. But he was right, just like this wasn’t the time to explain things to the other girl, it defiantly not the time to start arguing with her.

“Tell ‘im we have more than enough time—Whoa!” Aeron jarred the bike to the side, banging their knees on to the ground as she attempted to avoid the creature’s lunge. It moved faster than she imagined, the fact that it appeared relatively slow at first had managed to trick the soldier in to a false sense of security. With out even pausing to think on her mistakes, she pulled herself back on to her feet, re-adjusting the grip on her gun.

“Head shot.”

“Gotcha, ‘rin.” God, Aeron had to admit that she wasn’t the best shot with a gun—sure she was pretty good, but she preferred a bow-and-arrows any day of the week… to bad that weapon was classified and she didn’t dare to draw it out, no matter how much importance Kitsunea had placed in her keeping Reno alive. Her arms twitched as the bullet left the barrel of the gun, speeding towards the creature’s head before burying itself in its temple.

The possum still came careening forward, black-red blood oozing from the open wound, and Aeron decided that she might want to start listening to Reno’s advice—the kid probably knew what she was talking about, she had been in the city longer. That wasn’t even taking in to consideration the fact that she seemed to be in some kind of leadership position.

The younger woman rolled her eyes, there was no doubt her old friend was probably the best shot in town now… But that didn’t change the fact that these things weren’t easy to kill. Flipping out her lucky knife, she pushed Aeron out of the way, and allowed her self to be flipped on to the other creature’s back. It was hard to find a grip on the barely-haired animal, but she managed to find purchase, and once she did, Reno plunged the knife in to the wound the bullet hole had left. Stabbed, again and again, as the creature turned to charge towards where the soldier had landed.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing ‘rin?” It seemed as if Aeron didn’t understand her actions, didn’t understand that the creature had to be killed before it killed the two of them—and if she killed it now, it would no longer have the chance to kill any one else. She just didn’t understand what was going on in side of Nakimono.

The runner continued to stab at the wound, desperately trying to get to the brain, when the creature rammed itself in to the wall, slamming her in to it as well and causing her to lose her grip, consequently causing her to go flying in to a store window. Great, more cracked ribs! Reno knew those breaks would cause trouble, if not in this fight than in the next—she could only do so much when she couldn’t breath properly. And then the possum was on top of her, teeth slamming shut inches from her face. Damn it! She cursed, searching desperately for the knife she’d dropped, turning over every thing. A purple pumpkin filled with candy, no. An Easter basket filled with chocolate eggs, no! A closed box covered with fabric, no—yes! The knife had dug itself in to the edge of the top, ripping the blue-green plaid of its once solid surface. Frantically she grabbed for the knife, kicking at the fowl smelling mouth that growled at her, snapping in a vain attempt to reach her through the window.

Gunshots echoed from out side of the stores confines, but they didn’t seem to be effecting the creatures efforts to get at her, desperate in a rabid hunger. Reno was hoped that Aeron would get luck in her shots, but she doubted it would happen. She slipped the radio out of her pocket, “Shaun, any ideas how to kill it?”

“Its—a…. –ssom, they do—ike light.” The static was bad, but at least this time she could understand what was being meant—other times the static had nearly cost her life, that was the largest problem with going out side of the outer walls, for some reason contact in to its confines was hard, as if what ever it was that kept people from entering the city wanted to keep its inhabitants in the dark, didn’t want any one to know what each person was doing. As if the chaos was intentional, and could only deteriorate even worse.

So light was what she needed, a bright light—hopefully the light would allow them enough time to kill the thing. It would be even better if nothing else showed up before—or even after, but Reno knew that would be asking to much—they killed the damn possum. Flinching away from the saliva that flung from the possum’s mouth, Reno looked around for a door, a light switch, either one would do.

Snapping, snarling, behind her (along with the occasional popping of a gun being fired), Reno wandered in to the darkness of the room. Knowing her luck, she’d run in to another of the mutants, one that, this time around, she would be able to easily escape. In this building, she was blinded by the darkness, blinded so that she couldn’t even make out vague edges of objects or the walls. Wait. What was she doing? She didn’t lug her goggles around as a fashion statement! Hadn’t she been told that they had a night-vision-esc setting? If they did that would save her the trouble of stumbling through shadows.

The ring of a can—or some thing metal and hollow—hitting the floor, caused Reno to pause in her actions of placing the goggles over her eyes. Instantly, she adjusted her grip on the knife. Seems she was correct in judging her luck, today defiantly wasn’t her da—

A flood of light blinded her instantly as what ever it was turned a corner, a light so bright… She hadn’t seen a light that bright out side of the Uni. Tears threatening to spill from squinted two-tone eyes, Reno tried to see through the beam.

Until the light lowered, and a wide-eyed boy started up at her. “I thought we were the only two left…”

White-red eyes, innocently taking her in as she stood there, pleading with her to  help him—with what? It was odd, she’d found other survivors before but… never on the outer rim. Never there, and never near the SIC Labs, never where the population of the infected was so thick that it promised to choke the life out of even her. That imposing presence, some how she felt that here, flowing off in waves from the boy that held the light… which was in reality the scope of the gun. The hand that had relaxed its grip, instantly renewed it, readying herself for an altercation.

“Seems this one’s a smart on Joseph, she’s already figured it out.”

Movement behind her, growling back down the path she came, a gun—and the only light—in front of her. Decisions, decisions. Slowly, ever so slow with the hope that it wouldn’t be seen, she slipped a second knife from her right sleeve in to the palm of her hand, this was going to get sticky if Aeron didn’t show up. Reno would admit that for a civilian she was good in a fight, but… no where near good enough to defeat an unknown and a kid with a gun.

“I’d suggest you drop that knife of yours, it won’t do you that good.” A click of a gun against her temple. It seemed that these two were very well organized, and well equipped. She couldn’t afford to attempt to draw the gun holstered to her side, and—with their guns aiming where they were—she couldn’t afford to not drop they knife they knew she had.

But it had been knife, not knives, that was said. They didn’t know about the one in her right hand, so as she dropped the one from her left she flicked the right on back in to its holster. “It’s not very polite to point guns at a lady.”

“I don’t see a lady, I see some kinda fighter.” Well, well, who ever the male behind her was, he must be a good judge. Most people assumed, with her lilith form, that she would never be able to hold herself in a fight. Reno found herself commonly counting on the fact that others under estimated her, it made it that much more enjoyable when she kicked there asses.

“So, thinkin’ about escaping from our hell hole, miss?” The voice from in front of her hand changed in to a distinct sneer, hissing at her in a semblance of anger. Reno couldn’t help but find it odd that the younger male referred to the town as ‘theirs.’ Did these people know what had caused the decent in to nothingness?

“Escaping? Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace. Already tried it before, didn’t exactly get far beyond the city limits, ‘else I wouldn’t be here any longer, now would I?” Oh, nice one, she thought, antagonize the men with the guns.

“Smart aleck, are we? That can be easily enough remedied.” A hand raced towards the center of her back, but she anticipated some sort of action on their part. Reno’s arm twisted backwards, grabbing on to the appendage that was racing towards her, twisted it, flipping the body from behind her, up and over her body.

Continuing in her attack, she pulled the arm up behind his back, pulling it as she pushed her knee in to the small of his back. In the same fluid movement, she flipped the knife back out, only to press it against the man’s jugular. “Not quite.”

“Let… let ‘im go!” The kid was shaking, light frantically flickering around in circles, never deciding to land on a single target. She could only guess that he’d never witnessed his friend being defeated, probably thought no one ever could.

“And if I do? What you shoot me?” Reno scowled, she knew how the mind worked, and a panicked adolescent was nothing to joke around with. “I don’t think so, kiddo. I kind of like living.”

“I’ll… I’ll shoot you if you don’t!”

“He will, I know ‘im well enough to tell when he’s bluffin’, bitch.” Laughter, the blood bastard she had in a hold was laughing at her!

She twisted his arm, enjoying the sickening snap of the bone dislocating from his shoulder socket. But her joy was short lived as the sound of a gunshot, much louder this time, rang through the air… It wasn’t until she saw the blood that pitter-pattering against the skin of her hand that she realized the kid was the one who fired, and the sound hadn’t been Aeron getting closer. Slowly she removed the well-placed knife, so that she could wipe away where the blood dripped from, a well placed graze on her cheek. Seemed the kid was a better shot than she thought, and he was panicked on top of that. These people could cause serious trouble if they got a whiff of the survivors on campus. She couldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t endanger the lives of the people she now felt responsible for. Damn it all, Aeron was in town now—but where was the soldier when she need help?

“Let Marcus go!” The kid—Joseph, was it?—had broken out in a fine sheen of sweat, his eyes flickering around the room, never concentrating on her. Desperation. He knew she wouldn’t go down easily, he was looking for a better option than shooting her—but did that mean he was worried, or simply didn’t wish to stain his hands with blood?

“Just direct me to the door, as soon as I’m through it I will.”

“No! Let him go now!” He was becoming more and more agitated, Reno noticed, just as she realized the other had fallen suspiciously silent. But the realization came to late, costing the runner her fragile footing.

Falling to the floor with a thud, she groaned, her broken ribs protesting the abuse on her body. Above her now stood Marcus, his face calm yet covered with hatred, and the gun that had been pressed to her temple, now dead-center in front of her face. It just wasn’t her day!

Static violently hissing, Aeronwen Gyffes bent down to pick up the walkie-talkie, having waited a few minutes to make sure that the creature was dead. It took her a complete magazine to finally take the possum-like being down. A whole damn magazine! She’d only crossed a few things that were that hard to kill, and Reno said they’d—who ever they were—faced off against these things several times. Depressing the button, she asked the only question that came to mind. “Any idea where the hell Reno disappeared to?”

“…” silence and more hissing, white noise filling the void that was the street block, “I don’t think she’s left the building.”

“Figures.” She pushed the sunglasses further up her nose, sighing with the knowledge that she—once again—had to track down the troublesome politician’s daughter. “Can you find me another door? I can’t exactly use the one next to the window she flew through.”

As she moved, glass crunched under her feet, large shards, small shards, all grinded in to a fine dust by the heel of her boots. Aeron had long ago decided that she could never afford to call her job “easy.” She already had used that word one to many times, used it to no avail—every time she attempted to add that phrase in to her work, when ever she thought things would turn out easy, every thing took a turn for the worst, and causing the whole situation to fall down hill. Like this one, she’d baulked when Kitsunea had told her to go look for Reno, after all she knew where she’d be able to find the girl, it shouldn’t have been that hard. Shouldn’t have been that hard, a snort worked its way pasted her taunt lips, Aaron Lirin Reno was a troublesome person—she didn’t go out of her way to cause trouble or to find it, trouble just seemed to find its way in to her life no matter what. Aeron should have known better than to think that this would be easy.

“Kid? You got me that other door yet?”

“I’m working on it,” the reply was feeble, low, as if the person didn’t have much credit in their own work—figures that Reno would have some one unsuited for the job sitting on the other side of the line. Hadn’t she taught the younger woman any better?

“Keep on going, there will be a small alley to the right. There should be a door up a flight of stairs.”

“You’re taking me in through the second story? Not going to find me an easier way?” Why go in through the second floor? There had to be another ground floor entrance. And Reno’s idiot contact had better find her a way, or she’d punch him a new one once they met.

“You’d have to go back the way you came, all the way to the other side of the block in order to get to a ground entrance—the one I pointed out is the easiest, and quickest, way to get in.” Ooo, who ever Reno had working could manage an authoritative voice, not to mention they were fun to mess with—Aeron decided, despite the fact that moments before she was perturb, that she couldn’t wait to met Reno’s crew, that encounter promised to be interesting!

“Fine, fine… Is the path behind us clear enough to afford the time we’ve been dawdling?”

“I—s… f-ne. You—ost the horde.” The static was back, worse than she had heard it before, it had to be some thing to do with the fog, she was sure of it. Some thing in the fog… Hadn’t Kitty said that KII was working on some kind of high tech artificial fog to block out enemy communications? But why would that fog be in place here, when Kitty had sent her in to find some one? Things were just getting more and more complicated as she ventured deeper in to the depths of the City of the Future.

The stairs were actually an overly rusted fire-escape that creaked as soon as Aeron brushed it with her fingertips, and that meant it wouldn’t hold her weight for a long amount of time—So she had to be quick, she could do that. Scrabbling up the ladder, Aeron cringed with each increasingly loud pop that echoed through the air. Lunging for the door knob, she got it open just in time, pulling herself in as the fire-escape came crashing down, falling to the ground in a pile of rust and metal. She whistled, “Lu~cky!”

Now all she had to do was figure out where Reno had gotten to, but she doubted that would be much of a problem. Whistling a tune, Aeron strapped the walkie-talkie to her belt, and all-but skipped out of the sitting room she had flung herself in to. Her sense of danger had faded, and at the moment she felt the safest in ages—after all what was the worst that could happen in a closed environment like this that would be worse than out side? As she left the room, the door slammed shut with a thud—encasing her in darkness. Not that it was a problem for Aeron, she’d trained herself to operate in the dark with out any devices to aid her. Inching along she found the stairs… and a light shinning from down below. Voices echoed up from the floor underneath her feet.

“Just direct me to the door, as soon as I’m through it I will.” That one was Reno, seemed she’d managed to find more trouble, what was it with her?

“No! Let him go now!” Unknown, Aeron didn’t recognize the voice but she did place it as that of a young male’s—but Reno wasn’t the type to threaten a kid, so that meant that there was more going on than the soldier could tell by the words alone.

A thud, a groan that was distinctly Reno’s, and she knew that what ever was going on was worse than she had allowed herself to imagine. Slumping against the wall, she slinked down the steps.

There were two people in the room with her friend, the soldier noticed that one of them was no older than mid-teens and the other… the older male was pointing a gun at Reno’s head. She ground her teeth, looking for a way around killing some one—then Reno caught her eyes, and grinned.

“Am I supposed to be afraid? Hello! Out side there are the walking dead, I don’t think a gun is that scary… not any more.”

Antagonizing them. That was what Reno always seemed to do to her enemies—but then Aeron was one of the people that had taught the girl to fight, and she defiantly loved to taunt her opponents. Shaking her head at her friend’s bravado, Aeron slowly, carefully, inched towards the backs that were turned to her.

“Personally, I think a gun can be pretty scary, I mean I don’t have to kill you outright. Just shot you, leave you to die, bleeding from wounds all over your body…” Marcus smiled down at Reno, unaware of the soldier coming to the girl’s rescue, “I could just shoot you in the stomach, now that would be quite the death!”

The click of a safety being turned off.

“Oh I don’t know, I’m pretty sure getting eaten alive would be more painful.” Aeron’s arm was relaxed as she placed her pistol in the small of Joseph’s back, a wicked little smile, just a smirk, firmly in place. “’rin, you alive over there?”

“Psh, you should know I don’t die easily.” When Reno pulled herself up, Aeron noticed that the younger girl was favoring her side, which meant broken—or bruised—ribs. Not a good sign in such dangerous territory.

“Marcus?” The child was using a forsaken voice, as if the other man had—or was about to—betray him, just so that he could kill Reno.

“Sorry, brat. I have my orders.”

“But… Marcus! You… you… can’t.. just leave me.” A sniff and a pause, then his voice fell to almost inaudible, “Can you?”

“Why would I have a problem with leaving a sniveling child like you?”

“Hey! Lay off the kid, ass.” Reno hated it, the condescending way the man spoke, the way that Joseph fell in to himself with each word—is this what Shaun would have become had he not escaped the iron grip of his family? The gun was still in her face, a snarl written on the face of its holder, a snarl that she swore would permanently ingrain itself in to Marcus’s face.

“And if I don’t?”

“I might be tempted to change my target, sure I’d lose my hostage but then again you don’t seem to give a damn about him.” Aeron snapped, her eyes flashing in the darkness, the anger that Reno felt clearly also flowing through her veins as well.

Gun—and light—clattering to the floor, Joseph turned to bury his face in to Aeron’s chest, a deep heart-wrenching sobb escaping his lips. Marcus had been the only one to (seemingly) care for him, and now? Now when confrontation came, Marcus was throwing him to the wolves, and they were showing more care for him than any one else had ever bothered. Why were things working out like this?

Aeron patted him on the back, finding the situation a quite awkward turn of events, glancing up she realized that the man was distracted enough, and that Reno was about to make her move. It would probably be for the best if she got the boy to safety.

Reno moved, as the soldier slunk backwards with the added burden, jamming her palm in to the barrel of the gun, wincing as her actions caused Marcus to fire. Him being able to fire at all wasn’t part of her plan. Using the momentum from her uprising hand, she felt herself drawn in to a spinning kick from her crouching position, effectively knocking the other down from his standing portion—a move similar to that he had previously used to disarm her. Unfortunately, her actions with the gun meant that he was no longer caught by surprise, and thus controlled his fall, kicking out at her as he fell.

The runner thanked her luck stars she’d been trained by as many people as she had, as she changed tactics, easily catching her opponent’s foot and using it to flip him over in an attempt to confuse—and use his momentum against—him. Careful to avoid any hits he may try, she balanced on her hands, using a quick handstand to bring her on to her feet from her knees in a single fluid movement.

As she repositioned herself, Marcus had drawn himself in to a crouch. Both fighters looked in to one another’s eyes, fire seeming to dance along there lashes as the broken glass of the light flickered in its last moments. Both knew this fight was hopeless, here, now, they were evenly matched, neither one of them would win this altercation unless Aeron came back. And Reno knew that she had to get going—the gate was closed by now, but it didn’t change the fact that she needed to get back to her “headquarters” as soon as possible… and perhaps find out what exactly Joseph knew.

Blowing bangs out of her face, Reno decided to play peace-keeper. “Get lost, and I won’t bother calling Aeron back.”

“Give the kid back and I won’t go for my gun.”

“Strange, you didn’t seem so hot to have him as a traveling companion minutes ago.”

“He has his uses.”

“Well, to bad. Its not about to happen, I’m taking him back with me. He’ll be well treated, better than any treatment you could give him.” It was her turn to sneer, abusing a kid mentally was just as bad—if not worse—than abusing them physically. It created scars that would never heal, that would never be able to get close to healing due to the fact that they were engraved upon every memory—even if the memory had nothing to do with the abuse.

His face, that moments before been set in the stone of indiferance, fell in to a dissatisfied frown—Marcus knew better than to tempt fate. Just because the woman in front of him hadn’t drawn a gun through out the altercation did not mean that she lacked one, she was skilled enough that she probably didn’t really need one. The fact that she appeared to be favoring her ribs showed him that she was willing to fight tooth and nail through any kind of pain. That, and her damn sense of justice, made for her being the most dangerous of opponents. Marcus knew that it would be for the best if he retreated now—and may be this was a blessing, she made it sound like there was a pocket of survivors. And a pocket would make his job that much easier, that much better to study the effects that the compound had. Hell, he might even find one of his targets.

“Fine then, keep the useless idiot. I’m out of here.”

Reno rolled her eyes as he left, his shadows stretching in frantic patterns in the flickering light, the man was… confusing. It seemed like he didn’t want to sit on a single theory—that or he had to justify to himself why he was leaving his former companion behind to a group of strangers. That in itself she couldn’t believe, Reno couldn’t admit that she wasn’t glad for the action, but to just leave a child that one was obviously attached to in the hands of a complete stranger? She’d never do that.

But this encounter had taught her some thing, they needed to be more careful now than they had before. They’d never run in to a group like this… not on the outer rim. There was a pocket of survivors that was rather violent, but that was still in the center of the city near the SIC Labs. And they were nothing like this. They never ambushed some one outright, they killed before ever being able to ask questions… they weren’t that smart, but that was how they were able to survive. This event put things in to a new perspective, this told her to that there were more dangers lurking out side of the campus than she had let herself believe. Orange converse slapping the ground, she turned and followed the path Aeron had taken, walking up the near by flight of stairs—odd how she hadn’t noticed them until the soldier had descended them.

When Reno reached the top, she felt like she’d intruded on a private moment. Aeron was rubbing small circles in to the boy’s back, his face still buried in her chest, arms wrapped around her back, and body in her lap. The soldier had a distinct look of discomfort on her face, like she hoped she was making the right moves but had a suspicion that she wasn’t. “We need to get moving.”

“Right,” Aeron moved a hand to the kids shoulder, pushing him back so that he looked up at her. “We need to get moving, alright? I promise Reno and I will take good care of you.”

The boy nodded, blue-black hair sweeping over his forehead. To the runner it looked as if he was trying the hardest to stay awake, and to not have a worse breakdown than he had. Sighing, she moved to the door and opened it part way, “Carima! Gyffes, how are we supposed to get down?”

Aeron looked over the younger girl’s shoulder, with a shrug. “I figured that we could use the fence as a halfway point in getting down from here—only way I can figure.”

“Nothing can ever be simple with you can it?”

Shaun tapped the key-board in a nervous twitch—Reno’s newest stray had been in the building for to long… and Reno had yet to exit through any of the doors, and that fact alone promised trouble. What had gone wrong? Was there some thing in the building? Shaun didn’t kow if he could take it if one of his family’s wrong doings caused the girl’s death. Reno… Reno was a guiding light, he’d never had some one treat him that way she had, and couldn’t help but wonder where she got it from. The doors slammed open, and Annette Marshall stormed in followed by a timid Bai.

“Where the yarshim is she, Roy?” Shaun realized that the sailor’s daughter was pissed, she almost never referred to him by his fake last name, he couldn’t help but wonder what Annette would do if she were aware he was a Shima. But… that didn’t change the fact that she had charged in to his sanctum, his only sanctum. The only place in all of John Shima University that Shaun felt he belonged in.

“Still in the outer-rim,” he felt himself snapping—Bai could have come in like this, the young girl wouldn’t be screaming… She at least showed respect for his space, he needed that space or else he knew he’d fall even deeper in to his self-damnation.

The youngest of the group looked between the two, eyes flickering with worry that the room’s tension was going to explode, “Can you give us any thing else, Shaun?”

“Of course he can’t! He was probably goofing around in here, instead of doing what he’s supposed to.” Annette was not forgiving when it came to their leader, and—it seemed—had always had a dislike for Shaun. Now the dislike was rearing it’s ugly head, showing through her actions, her words, the way her brow creased in anger.

“She’s in a shop two blocks away from the wall. Reno got knocked in to a window, they had a possum blocking there way… she hasn’t left the building yet.” Even to Shaun his voice sounded dead and dull, he decided that he really needed to work on his emotional shielding… if he continued this way people would think him cold and uncaring.

“You can’t give—“

Annette was silenced as Bai carefully placed a hand across the elder’s mouth. “What about Aeron? I don’t see her any where on the screens.”

“You mean the psycho woman? She went in to the store to find Reno… I think they might have run in to even more trouble in the store.” His mouth was open, about to voice more of his thoughts when he noticed movement from the view he used to locate a second door. New shadows splaying against the wall, one, two… Three figure? How was it that when ever Reno went far enough away from campus she found more strays?

The two girls froze, then adjusted themselves so they could see the screen he was gapping at. Watching in wonderment, they saw as the three figures moved out of the door, carefully using a small ridge in the building to maneuver to a fence. The unknown form moving in between the two that were familiar. He didn’t know how they did that, he’d never manage it—or even think of that path. With the stairs gone, Shaun would have doubled back for another door, but it seemed that they didn’t want to waste the time. That or there was some thing in the building, some thing far more dangerous than losing time by back tracking. But what could that be? Reno would have been able to take care of almost any thing easily enough, any thing—that is—that could have been in the building. At least any thing they’d run in to before.

Static from the piece in his ear, snapped him out of the comatose-like state he had allowed himself to lapse in to. Leaning forward, fingers poised to type in new commands at a moments notice, forgetting for the moment that the others were in the room.

“Shaun?” Tentative, Reno’s voice was rarely that tentative, that… blindly worried. Some thing big must have happened to her, and what ever it was, Shaun was sure, it was going to impact those on the University grounds. “Shaun, is the road still clear?”

Tapping at the keys, his eyes scanned each screen quickly, carefully, looking for any danger. “Its looks clear from here, the horde that had been behind you is a few blocks back so be careful about making any loud noises.”

“Thanks,” Reno waved at a camera, her smiling face pixilated but clearly meant for him. The smile turned in to a momentary frown, “Can I ask you for a favor?”

A favor. She was asking if she could ask him for a favor? He owed her so much that she shouldn’t even bother asking first, at this point Shaun couldn’t think of much he wouldn’t do for the runner. “What is it you need?”

“Can I ask you to set up an extra cot? I’d ask Adi, but… he’s really fickle about his privacy. And I think some one closer to your age would be better.” Reno glanced behind her, at the two people that were still off camera, “Plus your Tech center is closer to where I’ll be putting up Aeron.”

“I… guess I can.” It would mean giving up his sanctum. He treasured the sanctum the room he was in offered, but there had to be a reason Reno wanted to room her newest ward with him—who ever it was, and Shaun presumed they were male, must have some kind of problem with older individuals (and, again presuming, that men were the ones he had a specific problem with). Most of the others roomed together, so he guessed it was about time that he receive a roommate. At least this meant that there was going to be another male in on campus—they were quite out-numbered by the girls, so it would be nice to finally have some one to talk to.

“I owe you… Now I’m sure ‘rie’s in the room freaking out, yes? So let me talk to her for a minute.” It was eerie how Reno always was able to make that call, she had yet to be wrong at guessing that some one else—and specifying who—was in the room with him. Shaun figured though, that this time at least, the guess made sense, after all she knew how Annette reacted in situations like this.

Grabbing a hand held, he tossed it to the nautical woman, “Your turn, Marshall.”

Catching it underhand, Annette quickly placed the device near her mouth, “Reno?”

“’rie, mind putting some sheets out side of my room and running two hot baths? Separate rooms, of course, wouldn’t want to scare our newest family member.” Reno’s voice crackled over the line, an obvious signal that she was whispering, keeping the ‘new member’ in the dark.

“Hot baths?”

“I know, I know, unusuall right? Well, its muddy as hell out here, and the group of us have had a hard day. Also tell Adi that I need to talk to him as soon as I get back. And I do mean right away.”

“Reno?”

“Its nothing for you all to worry about, not till I confirm my suspicions. Now, unless Shaun sees some thing out here, I want radio silence. Hopefully I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

The runner slipped the walkie-talkie back on to her belt, motioning to the other two that it was safe to move out from the alley way. Picking up the bike she winced in realization, how were all three of them supposed to safely ride the bike to the gate? Why even bother with it when in two blocks they would have to ditch the device in order to attempt scaling a wall?

“We need to ditch my bike, don’t we?”

“Is there a problem with it?” Reno’s eyes scanned over the framing of the bike, noticing the imposed plum KII logo on its smooth black surface, “Looks like Kitty had it built custom.”

“We just need to ditch it in a shop, or some where… I can pick it up later, or just have Kitty get me a new one. Its with in the budget for the team, and its defiantly with in the surplus Mu has accumulated. I just want to get Joseph here in to that nice hot bath you promised us.” Aeron was grinning at her, secretly telling her that, although she did want to get Joseph in that bath, what she really wanted was to know about what was going on in Nakimono. Some thing that Reno knew wouldn’t be easily explained, simply because of the fact that no one really knew all the facts—every thing they did know was pieced together by what they’d found.

“There’s a building we secured to hole up in if things got really bad on the rim, we can put it in there.”

“Sure your people won’t mind?” Aeron wasn’t sure, she’d been able to tell Reno was pretty high on the food chain, but the way she was talking to every one else… was she in charge of that group of survivors? It was the only thing that would make sense to her.

“My people won’t care,” Reno looked away from the other girl, bangs shadowing in to her face—being in charge wasn’t some thing she liked, but it was some thing she was good at. And she wasn’t ashamed to admit that these people were hers, not any body else’s; but that also meant that she was responsible for any thing that happened to them, and things just seemed to be getting worse in the city.

Helping Joseph towards the bike, Aeron glanced at the single viewable camera that she’d been able to see. So that’s where Reno had been getting her information from, but the question was: why were most of them so well hidden? “You need me to carry you kid? I’m sure Reno can handle the bike on her own.”

“Umm…” Joseph buried his face in her arm—his flesh oddly warm against her bare skin—his words coming out mumbled, “It be nice…”

Smiling down at him, she bent down slightly, “Alright hop on my back then. Reno, this okay with you?”

“Are you kidding? R and D’s built this bike like a charm, all of their vehicles are light weight.” It was a good thing that Aeron was there, she had a better understanding of… children of a sort. Reno could only guess that this was in part because of her ADHD… wait. Her ADHD. How the hell was Aeron going to keep that in control here in Nakimono? She could always break in to an abandoned pharmacy but Reno doubted the other would actually fall that low—she liked being off the medication. It never boded well when she was though. Aeron blew things up, drove like a maniac, had extreme mood swings when she wasn’t on the nifty shot that Kitty’s people had developed for her. “Hey Gyffes, did you manage to bring enough of the meds to last you a while?”

“Meds? Ohh those! I lost them about…” Aeron trailed off, staring at a store window in amazement— Reno froze, turning away from the bike to see what had caused the lapse in speech; Aeron was staring at a model helicopter… or perhaps at the metallic “rock” it was sitting on top of. Seemed she’d lost her vials long enough ago for the medication to be almost completely worn off. Oh, joy. This was going to be fun, may be she’d stick Aeron in with Adi instead of in her’s, the former priest knew the soldier well enough—and longer than she had. So he should have to deal with the problem right?

No. Adi would just end up shifting her to one of the girls, and that would have two possible endings: Bai would become a little Aeron clone (God the kid loved Aeron), and ‘rie… ‘rie would probably end up shooting the woman, and not even doing it in her sleep! And Joseph obviously had formed an attachment, so Reno wanted to keep the close to each other, for more than one reason. If Aeron was staying in her room, that would mean that she would also be near Shaun. And having some one able to watch Shaun was important, Reno knew that there were only a few people who were aware of his rank in the Shima family—and those that knew his place were the only ones who knew that he was a Shima—and if word got out… She couldn’t count on the actions of her people. She knew them well enough to know that Annette might snap, after all the younger woman already had a dislike for him. So placing Aeron with herself, and Joseph with Shaun, was for the best, even if it was going to drive her insane.

Her feet carried her forward, not being distracted by all her musings, and they carried her to Amriour’s Auto-body and Repairs Shop, its red-brown trim a striking contrast to the blue-greys of most of Nakimono’s buildings, and thus it had been the easiest place to make a safe house. There would be no missing it, as long as one was on the right roads. They’d fixed the windows and locks when they were attempting to build a barrier that isolated the outer rim, the decision to fortify a building had came with the increasing lose of lives during the construction of the “gates.”

In truth the gates weren’t some feat of technological wonder like most would expect (Nakimono was the “City of the Future” after all!), but large sections of metal, welded in to giant chain-link fences… Most of them were at least. And if they had been closer to one of those the ordeal ahead would have proved easier. The one that they would have to scale, the opening that was covered was small—the rest of the former road way had been covered by a collapsed building. So those responsible for the planning of the gates decided to make a huge sliding metal door, with handles only located on the in side—the only good thing that Reno noted was that ivy had grown in the months since the gates were completed, giving them extra grip for climbing over the wall of ruble.

But she’d let the others rest in side of Amriour’s before they’d attempt to tackle that building, and that would still give them time to get back to the University for dinner. Passing the boarded (and barred) windows, the runner flipped a switch that would unlock the door—she prayed that some idiot had bolted it and gone out a window—and then moved to open the door. “One of the people working on the gates owned this place, its where we stored most of our tools… which means it always had a fair amount of possible weapons. And back then we needed those weapons every moment of the day, so many creatures would swarm on us. That’s how we figured out that things worked better when we only traveled in small groups, attract less attention that way.”

Opening the door did two things, only one of them noticeable to any one entering the store, firstly the lights turned on, and second it caused the security system to kick in and— she wasn’t sure how—enabled for communication between Shaun’s computer and the people who were holing up in side. Amriour’s had been nicely equipped, there was a small fridge located near the back, next to that was a hot plate and a cupboard. Reno herself made sure each appliance worked, and that the building was stocked with food and water… Just in case. She’d been holed up her before, and she was glad for her precautions. “Come on in, I’m sure both of you need a little rest. Joseph, why don’t you take a nap and I’ll make us some thing to snack on?”

She hadn’t needed to say that, it seemed that along the walk the teen had fallen to sleep. Shrugging, Aeron placed the boy down in a one of the couches that lined the walls. “Nice place you’ve got here…”

Meaning ‘are you going to explain things yet?’ Reno translated in her mind, “Still not the place, Gyffes. I want to get back to campus before I start this.”

“’rin. I really want an explanation.”

“Shaun?” She knew the boy was listening in, even if it was unintentional, it was part of his job. And he took his job very easily. “You still have those files from SIC?”

“Yes… But I can’t exactly give it to you out of nowhere.”

Raising her eyebrows at Aeron, Reno decided to make her point vocal, “You need to see those files, they help every thing fit together.”

“Once we get eat some thing, we’ll get out of here. I figured Joseph would need a little rest but… seems he had that idea already.”

“Sounds good to me, but I want that explanation today.”

It was about an hour before Joseph awoke with a start, his body jerking upright at the sound of two women merrily talking. For a moment he thought he was back home, that his sisters were sitting in the room, watching television. He’d always hated the fact that his room was one of the most used in the house—why his parents didn’t let him have a room that was actually his he’d never know, they had more than enough rooms. But his sisters had always bullied him, put make-up on him as he slept, took black-mail pictures, once they’d even brought in a guy to suggest… No. He realized with a start that he wasn’t at home, his face didn’t feel caked with powder, his lips not the dry-cracks that they became from lip-gloss. But if he wasn’t home, who were these people… Where was Marcu—

Then he remembered, Marcus throwing him away like he was a piece of garbage, throwing him out like every one else. These were the people that had shown him kindness… but where was he?

A plate was placed in front of his face, the rich thick smell of chocolate and marshmallows wafting in to his nostrils. He looked up to see the woman he had so shamelessly clung to.  “Eat up, Reno says we need to get moving soon if we’re to make it back for dinner.”

He’d heard of them, s’mores, but his family had never allowed him to eat one since they were ‘beneath his station.’ So he picked it up and took a tentative bite, it was delicious! As soon as the food hit his tongue, Joseph’s stomach decided to protest the lack of food he had ingested over the last few days. And she’d promised him dinner to follow… how could it be that these people treated him better than any one else ever had, especially when they were supposed to be his enemy?

It didn’t matter, he decided. Joseph would just go with it, go with them until he couldn’t, until… until some one came to get him (he bet it would be Marcus, but after what the man had done… the boy didn’t even want to think about it) and he was given no choice but to leave. He watched with wary eyes as the two moved around the small room, gathering things, preparing to leave, “Where are we going?”

“Out of the rim, specifically to JSU.” That was the blonde one, the one he’d almost shot… how could she let him be any where near her? He’d almost killed her, almost blown her head off!

“I’m Aeron, by the way.” The woman with violet hair was in front of him, kneeling so they could be face-to-face, “Over there is Reno. So what’s your name kid? I’ll take a story once we get some where safer.”

“Joseph… Joseph Marqui.”

“Well Joseph, I want you to put this on.” The woman named Reno passed him a hoodie—had it come from that bag she was carrying around with her?—and then stood next to Aeron. “The sun’s about to go down, and you’ll move faster if you’re warm.”

“But…” He wanted to argue, instinct had mad him want to, but he didn’t. He wouldn’t argue with them, not when they were taking such good care of him.

“Now we need to scale the damn wall.”

Marcus Longwhin watched as the two girls helped his charge over the wall that separated a the city from it’s outskirts. He wasn’t sure if passing the Marqui kid off to them was the best idea, after all the damn brat would probably form an attachment to their little band, but oh how he hoped it would lead him to his prey. His boss had sent him to Nakimono for more than just the purpose of observation (Marcus couldn’t believe the company’s luck in obtaining the compound).

When he’d been assigned the case he was ecstatic, and then the boss had told him he had to take Joseph with him. The kid had been a pain in his side since his first day of work, where he’d been given the task of playing baby-sitter… At least today’s break down was entertaining—that and the way the child instantly took to the women. That would make things all that more interesting when he had to get the kid back. He liked it when things were proved to be interesting.

Marcus had to admit that he hadn’t expected to meet survivors like the two woman—one was obviously a trained soldier, and the other… there was some thing off about her, some thing that gave her the confidence in her own power, and it was that confidence that would have allowed her to defeat him. He wouldn’t under estimate her again, the blonde would be even more of a challenge than the soldier.

As he moved to follow their path over the wall, Marcus’s mind began to formulate an idea—follow them to learn where they were holing up, and then, perhaps, approach the group that controlled the grounds of the Warrin Complex. Yes. That would work, starting a war within the city, a war with three sides—not to mention a hidden fourth manipulating the others—two of which where the human survivors. That would work perfectly.

Easily scaling the wall, Marcus watched the group of three head in to the sunset, a malicious smile playing on his lips.

Igazából ebben a 2 napban nem történt túl sok minden, sőt az is mondhatnám, hogy semmi sem történt.
A tegnapi nap sikeresen véget ért. Töriből megírtuk a témazárót. Szerencsére ott volt a puskám, ami segített, mert amúgy 1es lett volna -.-” Magyaron csak ketten feleltek, mert aztán bejöttek az órára a finn cserediákok. Szóval megmentették az osztály többi tagját és engem egy-egy 1estől, mert senki sem tanult arra a napra. Törire is mindenki puskával készült. Bioszon is szerencsénk volt, mert a tanár nem kérte a 15 tételt.
Majd kezdődött a tánc próba. Most szerencsére a párom is ott volt. És nem volt abból probléma, hogy múltkor hiányzott, mert teljesen új koreográfiát talált ki a tanár. Bonyolultabb mint ez előző volt, de sokkal jobb lesz
Ma pedig tényleg semmi említésre méltó nem történt.

Amint látjátok az előző bejegyzést jelszóval védtem, szóval aki eddig nem olvasta el kérjen jelszót. én pedig vagy adok vagy nem xD És aki esetleg már elolvasta, de még egyszer elszeretné az is próbálkozhat a jelszó elkérésével.

Még egy kis változtatás a blogban. Lecseréltem a lejátszóban a zenét. /Már épp ideje volt xD / Most a Medic Droid Fer Sure c. számát tettem ki. Mert amióta ismerem ezt az együttest azóta szinte folyamatosan őket hallgatom.

u.i.: Linda bocsi, hogy amióta felvettelek msn-re nem is tudtunk beszélni, de nem voltam fent msn-en :S De ha hétközben nem is leszek hétvégén biztos fel fogok menni

My first costume idea was to go as The Bride in Kill Bill. Because of my bangs and blonde hair and wanting an excuse to own a friggin sword and so on. Well. I ordered the costume, got it in a Small because that’s all they had left, it came, I tried it on and… well, it’s obscenely see-through and looks like it’s  made for a 12 year old child. I mean I could probably pull it off but I don’t want to invite trouble. Was only 20 bucks, no big deal.  So after that, I was thinking maybe I’ll go as a school girl (lame, yes, I know) but black out my eyes and be EVIL SCHOOL GIRL, but I didn’t really love the idea. It was OK, we hung out a few times, but blah… no chemistry, not in love. Last night I was listening to streaming Halloween music with friends and drinking home brew and this woman singer came on, a female artist who sounded a lot like Tori Amos but really creepy. Someone made the remark that it sounded like Goth Tori. Then someone else said “Gory Amos lol,” a lightbulb went off in my head and thus my costume idea was born.

I can’t wait! …just gotta figure out how to do the piano.

How is that possible that one of the ugliest moose girls on the planet, TORI SPELLING, stole her present husband Dean McDermott?  It boggles the mind that anyone except that starry eyed Armenian dude who married her for money (her first husband that she left for McDermott). So I ask you – take a look at his first wife Mary Jo and tell me that her ex married Tori Spelling for love. NOT.

Men are so obvious especially when a celebrity notices them. McDermott wanted to be a reality TV star and married to wealth. He did both and sealed his fate with 2 kids. Tori Spelling for her part IS NOT A NICE PERSON. Never was and it is hard to see her as a domestic housewife when all I can see is a spoiled rich brat used to getting her own way with everything.

Sad – and soon – he’ll leave her for yet another richer woman. Wait and see -Oh and I understand the big tit theory too. Still she’s a bowzser.

–Bonju Patten

Last Saturday Ward Nasse Gallery was flooded with bright colors, rainbows, ice cream cones, m&m’s, cupcakes, wine, and even a sculpture of a  mannequin’s leg. This could only mean one thing, Art exhibit by Amanda Dolan. Kaleidoscopic colored canvases filled the whole gallery. Amanda is known for her positive attitude. So, this event was no exception. A happy themed exhibit with guests laughing; enjoying themselves.

An artist known for her mixed media paintings, came one step further by tapping into the art of sculpting. A pink, red, and every color from the rainbow mannequin leg served as something Amanda called “post-modern flower pot”.

With an array of colorful cupcakes and custom named M&M’s the guests enjoyed her beautiful paintings. Oh, wine and hard candy known as “bling bling rings” were also in the mix. 

But, why all the pop of color? She happens to be inspired by one of my favorite designers, Betsey Johnson! Not only inspired on canvas, but she was decked head to toe in Betsey gear! In fact, some of the Betsey staff was there. And, why all the wacky prints? Well, she has rock n’ roll inspiration every day with her. Amanda happens to have a rock star boyfriend.

Last Thursday marked my official six year anniversary at Waggener Edstrom and I found myself reminiscing about how I came to WE and what has kept me here for so many years. I actually started at the agency in August of 2003 as a temporary employee (which is a great way to help get your foot in the door). I still remember first coming across the job opening for my role on a Human Resources networking email group (networking is another great way to help get your foot in the door!). I wasn’t working at the time and the job was for a temporary position here at the agency. I was just about to start traveling so the timing wasn’t ideal, however I still contacted the recruiter and shared my resume, letting him know I’d absolutely love to be considered for anything in the future. A few weeks later after I returned from traveling to visit family, I received an email from the recruiter I had sent my information to, informing me they were in need of another temporary staffing coordinator. I let him know that I was very interested and he put me in touch with his coworker who was managing the hiring for this position.

As a Staffing Coordinator, it was interesting to see what it was like to be a candidate again, as I hadn’t had the need to interview during the previous four years. After having notified the recruiter of my interest in the position, a couple of days later I had my initial phone interview with his coworker. I felt like she and I had immediately connected and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. The more we talked the more excited I got about the position because it was exactly what I was looking for. Two days later I received a call from the hiring manager and went into the Lake Oswego office for my interview. I passed the first round! The second round was with another staffing partner on the team, whom I immediately hit it off with as well. At this point I was trying to not get too excited in case I didn’t get the job!

I ended up coming back in one more time, as the recruiter who I had my phone screen with was down from our Bellevue office. Our meeting was scheduled for 8am and I always try to be at least 5 minutes early to interviews…never really more because I’d rather wait out in my car than in the lobby of an office building. I had gotten in the elevator, pushed the 3rd floor button and nothing happened. I kept trying. The button would light up, but only for a second. I was trying not to panic. It was 8am and I was late! I kept pushing it, but still nothing… and then someone stepped in the elevator and luckily happened to be going to the 3rd floor as well. I then learned that apparently the elevators were locked until a certain time so you needed a security card to access them before and after hours. It also so happened that the woman in the elevator happened to be who I was meeting with! So it all worked out perfectly. A couple of days after that, I received a call and was offered the position! I said yes before I even knew how much it paid or what, if any, benefits I would receive. The whole process took just about two weeks to go through. To me it felt like a whirlwind. But it felt right.

I was so excited to be joining the recruiting team at Waggener Edstrom. I felt like I had hit it off with everyone I had met during my interview process and it just felt like it was the right place for me. It’s now six years later and some days I feel like I’ve always been with Waggener Edstrom and other days, it doesn’t feel like it’s possible that it’s even been six years! I’ve made some really great friendships over the years as well. I’ve been lucky that I think I’ve worked with just about every team in the agency, from the account side and infrastructure teams to those teams in our regional and international offices. When it comes to hiring here at the agency, I’ve gotten to know a lot of really great people.

Over the years I’ve taken on more responsibilities. Along with my coworker Michelle, we manage our Employee Referral Program, which is a fabulous source of hire for us (our program has fielded up to 50% of our total hires at times). I also work with my teammate Kristin on our Digital Strategy Initiative and also with Michelle and another coworker, Jodi, on our Internship Program. I love that I’ve been given the opportunity to branch out in my role and not be kept with doing the same task day after day. I love the variety that my position and team offers. When I talk with candidates and they ask what’s kept me at Waggener Edstrom for so long, without a doubt my first response is always my team. The flexibility that we’re also allowed can’t be compared to other companies where I’ve worked. I feel very fortunate that I work on such an amazing, supportive team.

The culture at Waggener Edstrom is a very celebratory kind… earlier this week my team took me to a local family fun center to celebrate my 6 years with the agency and we all played air hockey, skee ball (how fun would it be to have one in your home?), shot hoops, and played various other arcade games… it was a blast! One of my passions is photography so I’m rarely without my camera. Here are some of the pictures that were taken during our celebration:

I hope this gives you an idea of the Waggener Edstrom culture. It’s definitely a culture that likes to celebrate everyone’s well-deserved success.

If you’re looking for a company that challenges you, supports you, and rewards your success, check out WE!

Wassup, y’all? Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve been SOOOOOO busy! The final performance of A Thousand Cranes was last night. It was so exciting, yet so sad. Joshua had to wear his hair in a ponytail and Colin’s hair looked like Christopher Robin – it was so adorable lol… Shreyas has been out sick all week, and Katherine missed last night and Friday night because she has SWINE FLU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is horrible!!!!!!!!!

Their wish is engraved on the base of the statue:

This is our cry.

This is our prayer.

Peace in the world.

…One thousand…

Look, Grandmother! You were right!

In school… we finished Y1K and it was AMAZING! Now in Chorus it seems more like dance because we’re learning all the choreography. I almost have the moves for Locomotion down! We get to wear poodle skirts for the concert! Woot! ^-^ Let’s see… no other fun stuff going on in school so yeah…

Have I talked about choir at all? I don’t think so… Well basically I’m in the “youth choir” at my church. We sing at the 12:15 Masses. Who’s in it? A lot of people from Fiddler… Mike, Catherine, Lizzie, Emily, Jessica G., Jessica K., two other girls who weren’t in Fiddler named Kelly and Meg, and OMG CONOR!!!!!!!! Conor was like one of my 2 BFF’s last year in Children’s Choir so I’m really psyched! But he’s not gonna start showing up for a few weeks cuz he’s in a play. I have no idea what play though lol

Dance is still fun… In Acting, Hannah and I are doing a scene called Above It All. It’s this scene about two girls, Kali (Hannah) and Jenna (me), who are on a Ferris Wheel. Jenna’s terrified of the Ferris Wheel, so at first it’s all about Kali calming her down. Then it goes to this thing about Kali’s parents being divorced and her dad calling even though the lawyers said he’s not allowed to. To be honest it’s really confusing me. In Live On Stage we’re doing “Nine To Five” as the opening and “Don’t Stop Believing” ^-^ as the finale. Our class is doing “She’s In Love” from The Little Mermaid and “Nicest Kids In Town” from Hairspray ^-^.

Rock Band is really fun too Depali (please please please tell me I spelled her name right…) and I are the singers, and Kevin (back from the summer ) is the bass player, and Nick and Mike (different Mike lol) are the guitarists. The teacher is Niko. So far we’re doing “Hotel California” and some other song I forgot the name of.