Mob Random

“With the understanding that there may never be anything between us but a shared desire for peace, and my word that I will never force upon you any duty beyond the political expectations of the position, I implore you, Danica Shardae, to agree to be my wife.”

-----

He reached over and pulled the sparkling pins out of her hair, so that it fell in warm and heavy curls down her neck. The sensation of hair tickling her bare skin was unfamiliar and oddly pleasant.

“Much better,” he said, and she thought this time that maybe his voice was slightly uneven too.

-----

“You’re exhausting,” he said.

“I’m what?” She leaned against a tree, watching him close the last few yards between them.

“Exhausting, tiring, capable of wearing on my very last bit of peace.” He faced her, as if his attention was only on her, but she had no doubt that he knew where everyone near them was.

------

‘What is it?’ enquired Dr Elke, looking at Comely’s love child which was climbing with passionate enthusiasm over her feet.

‘It’s a mixture,’ admitted Ruth.

Dr Elke said she could see that and removed her shoe from the puppy’s grasp.

‘But full of personality?’ suggested Ruth. ‘Though not perhaps strictly beautiful.’

‘No, not strictly.’

‘Voltaire wasn’t beautiful either,’ said Ruth, ‘but he used to say that if he had half an hour to explain away his face, he could seduce the Queen of France.’

‘More than half an hour would be necessary in this case,’

----

“I don’t trust anyone who feels you should like them because they love themselves so much,”

Future Random

Time after time, Lance threw blows at me, and I dodged them, playing to my strengths. I was fast, I was light, and I wasn’t afraid of playing dirty. I was small and flexible and—as Lance muttered at one point—completely insane. The bond let me predict his movements, but it did little for letting him track mine, because even I didn’t know what I was going to do next.

“Again.”

I was really beginning to hate that word.

-----

There’s four of us and one of him.” After a brief moment’s pause, she amended her head count to better reflect our real odds. “Three and a half of us, one of him.”

Three and a half, as in three werewolves, one human. I narrowed my eyes. “For your sake, Lake, I’m going to pretend that Devon is the half.”

Dev, unquestionably the strongest person in this room, just shrugged and let me keep my delusions. “It’s because of my petite stature,” he said. All 6′ 4″ of him.

----

Leaning back against the pool table, Lake preempted my next request. “Weapons?” she asked, all business.

“Anything that will help us secure the perimeter. I’m thinking some strategically placed explosives wouldn’t hurt.”

Some people lived for the phrase strategically placed explosives. Lake was one of those people.

“On it.”

----

“For a genius thief, you really are a stupid girl, aren’t you?” “Yeah.” Kat closed her eyes. “I am.”

---

“What makes you think that Valentine’s change of plans had anything to do with Raven?” “Because,” I said with grim certainty, “only he can piss someone off that much.”

---

Still holding him by the arm, she looked up at the Doctor, fighting back her anger. She knew it ridiculous, but it was hard—so hard—to be reasonable when it was someone that you loved.

----

I can’t say what my first thought was as I sunk below the surface, because it was mostly a string of four-letter words.

---

“What's a little thing like revolution between friends?”

----

“Now, if they got everything they liked, they would be spoiled,” she told Dove. “And nobody likes spoiled regents.”

----

Emily watched her as she stood. “Be careful.”

Finley grinned at her as she swung her leg over the cycle she’d chosen and sat down. “Careful? Where’s the fun in that?”

And then she found the mechanism to make the beast move and she tore out of the stables without a backward glance.

The Color Pink - Time Line

Movie at Nicks House with friends

"Intervention"

Bump into Brandon

"You do understand what clean means don't you?" She glared at him with ...

"Yes mother" he said hurrying away from the office door, "its in the dictionary right under Obsessive Compulsive"

"I heard that Nicholas"

"I love you mom" he shouted back over his shoulder as they rounded the corner.

Meet Brandon at school

QB "He looks like fun"

Museum

Foot steps make their way across the previously empty room, coming to a stop right behind me. I turn around to find Brandon gazing at the Turner Painting.

"Are you stalking me?" I blurt out. Silently calling myself all different kinds of stupid.

His mouth quirks up at the corner, and he points to the Guide pin on his chest.

"Yes, and I bought this pin in the gift shop as a disguise."

"Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt," I told him turning back to the Turner.

Mid-Terms

Paint Bedroom

"You will probably ruin your clothes"

"Probably, but I have more."

***********

"There have been days when our friendship was the only thing standing in the way of my jealousy"

"Wow. Nice bike, " I said. Which was a lie. It looked like a glossy black death trap.

Grief was like that. It gradually faded into a dull ache, until some simple sight or sound or scent hit me like a hammer blow.

His face was creased and lined by long years of sun and weather, and there were crinkles at the corners of his eyes that said he had smiled at some time in the past. He wasn’t smiling now.

“Don’t talk down to me.”

“Well, I could hardly talk up to you. You’re too short.”

“If there was such a thing as terminal literalism, you’d have died in childhood,”

‘I am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,’ but they don’t say anything because they’re Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain.”

“I met Napoleon once,” said Erin. “We didn’t have an affair, though. He was shockingly prudish for a Frenchman.”

Only when I heard her bedroom door open and close did I give in to my beast instincts and do a wild animal dance around the room.

“And if you come back using words like ‘queue’ or ‘lorry,’ I’ll be very upset.”

it is way too early to be using words like ‘ergo.’

Thanks to the humidity, my hair felt like it had tripled in size. I could feel it trying to devour my sunglasses like some sort of carnivorous jungle plant.

I played as if I were alone in the world and had only this gift to pour into the heartbreaking emptiness.

“That wasn’t berating you,” I said darkly, even as she savored their passage over velvety land and watched the brilliant stars overhead. “When I berate you, you’ll know it.”

Honor Aiden Random

She danced another two times before the evening finally came to an end. She couldn’t remember the young men’s names, but they had been pleasant and polite enough. She was fairly certain they only danced with her because they thought she was Phoebe’s cousin and their mothers told them to.

-----

So Aiden did what so many rich girls did when confronted with a situation they did not want to face. She rolled her eyes back into her head and pretended to faint.

-----

She spun her stave and struck me in the backs of the knees, smacking the joint with enough force to bruise. I tumbled to the ground, teeth set against the moment of pain.

-----

“Listen to me, Aiden. He’s not a bad guy like your dad and Uncle Eddie are bad guys.” He took a deep breath. “Like I’m a bad guy. This guy? His name’s Arturo Taccone, and he’s a whole different kind of bad.”

-----

“Are you ever going to call me Kat, Marcus?”

“Not today, miss.” He repeated softly, “Not today.”

-----

The man who opened the door reminded Kat oddly of Marcus, the way he wordlessly took her wet coat and softly asked her to follow. There were marble floors and chandeliers, fresh flowers, and fires burning in two of the four rooms she passed. But there were no stacks of mail lying on tables, no coats or scarves hung carelessly on the backs of chairs. It was a place that valued beauty and order in equal measure, Kat knew. So she stayed quiet, following her guide toward a set of double doors more intimidating than the drawbridge. She stood silent, waiting for an audience with Arturo Taccone.

-----

Pretend and it will be true.

-----

Will snarled something Aiden couldn’t hear. She hoped it was rude. She tried to twist away from Jace. Her feet slipped and he caught her, yanking her back with agonizing force.

---

Aiden wondered if Isabelle’s propensity for unsuitable footwear was genetic.

-----

Dasha sat on a rock and sighed. “Now, shall we just sit or would you like me to blather?”

“Blather please.” “With pleasure.”

----

“I hate them,” Enna said. “Whoever is responsible for making me sleep outside without pillows, I hate them.”

“Mmm-hmmm . . . ,” Dasha said. Rin had noticed that the Tiran girl often had trouble remembering how to speak in the morning.

“If Finn were here,” Enna continued to mumble as she rewrapped her head cloth, “he’d let me rest my head on his chest at night. Or leg. Or arm. And then he’d find whoever was responsible for the whole sleeping outside with no pillows situation and hold him while I kicked him in the shins.”

“Hmm . . . ,” said Dasha.

“In the shins. Hard.”

“Just don’t you let go of that lofty dream, Enna,” said Isi. “Four or five days to Kel, where we just might have time for some shin kicking.”

----

‘Would you like me to stop talking? Because I can. I have to concentrate, but it’s possible.’

---

“Why, I’m just as true and honest as dirt."Jon said " And I’m even more charming than dirt.”

Scene?

Valek slowly set his daggers on the floor and held his hands up.

“And the rest,” she said.

He removed a few more weapons, but left the darts, lock picks and a few other surprises in place. She ordered him to turn around and put his hands on the wall. Doing as instructed, Valek knew exactly what would happen next. Even though he braced for the blow, the impact sent him to his knees as blackness claimed him.

A dagger of pain stabbed him between the eyes. Valek groaned and touched the back of his head, fingering a tender fist-sized lump. Nausea churned in his stomach. He lay still to keep from losing his supper.

-----

He wanted to prove his point. After what seemed like a lifetime of blows to my ribs, stomach and back, he did. Passing out was the best thing to happen to me all day.

-----

“Aiden, you are a goddess. I will carve your likeness in mashed potatoes so all can worship you like I do. When you leave Philip, will you marry me?” Jon said.

-----

“Nobles,” said Jon, as if it were the filthiest word he knew, and threw himself into the oncoming horde.

---

“Meanwhile,” Jon added, “I wanted to tell you that lately I’ve been cross-dressing. Also, I’m sleeping with your mom. I thought you should know.”

Will shot him a frown.

"Kidding." Jon said, "Just making sure you were paying attention."

----

Every dish he owned, except the two teacups and the teapot Aislinn had bought him, went smashing into the wall. Then, he punched the wall until his knuckles were bloodied. It didn’t help, but it felt a lot more satisfying than anything else he could think to do just then.