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“HELL HATH NO FURY!” Astor screamed as he burst into Tobias’s office and was behind his chair faster than the old phoenix could blink.

“What – ?”

“DON’T LET HER FIND ME. PLEASE, TOBIAS, MY BROTHER, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT ME.”

“Astor, what did you – ?”

“/WHERE IS HE?/” Tobias blinked, unaccustomed to hearing Leona sounding quite so aggressive.

“You probably deserve whatever she’s about to do,” he sighed, “but I’ll do my best.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.23.2012 @ 4:40 pm

Slight of build. That was one kind way they’d always put it. But Sparrow knew what they meant. Puny. She was absolutely puny.

Of course, being so small had its advantages. Her boyfriend, for example, could sweep her off her feet with ease. Of course, that was also sometimes a disadvantage, as he did so like to interrupt her while she was busy with something else.

Posted By Julia A. On 04.19.2012 @ 8:01 pm

“You look like an insect.”

“I look amazing.”

“You look ridiculous.”

“Tobias, you’re just jealous that I found these gigantic beautiful gleaming white sunglasses at Goodwill and you didn’t.”

“Astor, that’s not even – you know what, fine. Yes. Jealous. Green with envy. Especially of the raccoon eyes you’ll be sporting later.”

“Day-ruiner.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.18.2012 @ 5:55 pm

“I can’t find my earring!” Sparrow twittered frantically, flitting from corner to corner of the room. “My granddad gave me these, Lee, it can’t be gone! Oh, I’ll be just DISTRAUGHT if I’ve lost it!”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.16.2012 @ 3:28 pm

Astor sat in his spot on Tobias’s desk. Tobias didn’t look up; he was deep into whatever numbers he was crunching or documents he was proofing or whatever the hell it was the headmaster of a school for mythical creatures did all day. Astor thought to himself, I’ll be a good friend. I’ll sit here nice and quietly and play with my Gameboy (with the volume turned down) and I won’t say anything.

The next radiant thought that sparked through his mind, of course, was Today’s as good a day as any for a surprise I Love You party.

Posted By Julia A. On 04.15.2012 @ 6:22 pm

“Can I entice you with some champagne?” Erika purred. Gavrouche smirked, slowly hanging up his coat before making his way across the room and kissing her from the other side of the table.

“Honestly, it’d just be a bonus, you’re quite enticing enough.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.14.2012 @ 11:42 am

“Your name’s Sparrow?” he asked, sneering. She responded only with a glare, but he continued to his punchline: “Mind if I rattle your birdcage, Sparrow?”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.13.2012 @ 8:35 pm

If it had been a better day, Astor might have done it. He might have gone inexplicably running ahead of Tobias, and then the moment the phoenix was close enough to ask what he was doing Astor might have jumped straight into that huge, perfect puddle. It would only have stung a little – hell, it might not have even hit him at all – but today Astor knew better.

Posted By Julia A. On 04.10.2012 @ 3:20 pm

After a while it wasn’t even heartache. Either that or Astor just became so accustomed to the dull pain in his chest that he eventually forgot it was there. It was just stagnation, emptiness, apathy. He just stopped.

Posted By Julia A. On 04.08.2012 @ 12:37 pm

“Tobias how many branches of government are there?”

“In what country?”

“First one that comes to mind.”

“Three.”

“America?”

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.07.2012 @ 12:52 pm

“Sam – ”

“Don’t.” Dean winced. Sam locked his jaw. “I know, Dean. I know I should never have trusted her. You were right and I’m so, so sorry. But please just don’t do this right now.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.06.2012 @ 11:55 am

You gotta stop this, man. This willful ignorance you’re pushing yourself into. He’s hurting, he’s DYING, and by blinding yourself to the issue you’re only making it worse. You have to talk to him. You have to try to bring him back.

Posted By Julia A. On 04.05.2012 @ 3:54 pm

He pulled his hood up, and beneath its shadow his face turned into a skull. His father’s scythe materialized in his hand and raven-dark wings spread briefly before folding comfortably behind his back. He looked down on the old man, his feelings dampened by his transformation.

“It’s time to go.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.04.2012 @ 12:01 pm

“I think it’d be cool to be a flight attendant,” Sparrow mused, lacing her fingers into Lee’s.

“I don’t,” Lee said. “Boring. And high up. And boring. And everybody would always think down on you. Like, you already gotta worry about people LOOKIN down on you, from where you stand, but THINKIN down on you, that’s just plain humiliating.”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.02.2012 @ 3:56 pm

Astor squinted his eyes at the blaze, wondering if you could ever get bored of periodically bursting into flame. He knew he didn’t get bored of scrambling out of the way in the nick of time, that was for damn sure. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to hum to himself to settle his nerves, thinking wryly, “One of these days I’m gonna have to bring some marshmallows…”

Posted By Julia A. On 04.01.2012 @ 5:47 pm

“You’re mean,” Astor pouted, gathering up the many-colored ducklings in his arms and stomping dramatically out of Tobias’s office before bursting back in and crushing his oldest friend in a tight hug. “Which, of course, is one of your many charms.”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.31.2012 @ 2:46 pm

Astor stared dazedly past Leona at the rainy window on the other end of the room. “I don’t want to get up.”

“I’m afraid that’s too bad,” the sphinx said briskly, pulling the comforter off the bed to expose the trickster to the freezing room. “Up you get.”

“I can’t.” His voice flat.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.30.2012 @ 5:34 pm

Astor wouldn’t normally laugh at the anxiety on Tobias’s face at the sight of the deep, clear water, but alcohol had a way of making the trickster more than usually giggly.

“Tobias… you need to RELAX. The water can SMELL FEAR.”

The phoenix gave his best friend an exasperated look, then one of slight concern as he seemed to notice something. Then a victorious grin that led Astor to realize, just a moment too late, that something bad was about to happen to him.

In the next moment the tipsy trickster hit the water with a splash, and Tobias never so much as moved a muscle to aid him.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.29.2012 @ 12:10 pm

Erika had gotten good at avoiding capture.

Her parents were evolving just as she did, of course, and so they were becoming just as good at finding as she was at hiding. That was the unfortunate bit.

But as it wasn’t her parents she was hiding from this time, she figured that the skills she’d acquired in running away from her parents and the scientists they so frequently handed her over to should serve her well. And they did. She remained quiet and unspotted until the hunters very well gave up.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.28.2012 @ 11:47 am

CATCHER FEATURES IN LIKE EVERY STORY I WROTE FROM THE TIME I READ CATCHER IN THE RYE ON. LIKE NOT EVEN ON PURPOSE. I WROTE A STORY ABOUT A PAIR OF SIDEKICKS AND ONE CAUGHT THE OTHER WHEN SHE FELL FROM THE ROOFTOP OF A BUILDING AND IT WAS CALLED CATCHER. And then I wrote another thing but I don’t remember OH WAIT WAIT WAIT I WROTE THE THING ABOUT THE CATCHERS WHO CATCH PEOPLE WHO BREAK THE LAW AND THEN THEY’RE TAKEN TO THESE DUNGEONS AND TORTURED AND YEAH this wasn’t coherent I am not actually proud of this knowing my history with the word I should have had something better for catcher.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.27.2012 @ 6:25 pm

Astor’s temper wasn’t just slow to rise; most people thought it to be completely nonexistent. He was always the very last to lose his head, the very last to give his fury the upper hand. And when he did, it wasn’t a flare or a firecracker like one might expect it to be. It was quiet, it was cunning, and it was deadly.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.25.2012 @ 1:40 pm

“TOBIAS YOU LOOK EXQUISITE.”

“Astor you are drunk.”

“NO MAN. WELL YES OBVIOUSLY YES I MEAN CLEARLY I MEAN I DRANK A LOT OF THINGS WITH ALCOHOL IN THEM SO YES OBVIOUSLY I AM DRUNK. HOWEVER. THAT DOES IN NO WAY NEGATE YOUR EXQUISITENESS THIS FAIR EVENING.”

“Thank you, then, I suppose.”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.24.2012 @ 12:00 pm

Erika had always wanted to enter a pageant.

It was silly, of course; she realized that now. And that TV show that was popular now, that Toddlers & Tiaras, had affirmed her suspicions that even if her mother HAD allowed her to participate in such a thing, there would certainly have been very little fun involved.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.19.2012 @ 1:42 pm

deiohfaraue;igf THE WORD IS TORCH okay

“OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT. DID YOU. SEE. THAT. YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T ON ACCOUNT OF BECOMING THE HUMAN TORCH AND EVERYTHING BUT OH. OH MY GOD. TOBIAS YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THAT DODGE ROLL MAN. OH MOSES IT WAS SOMETHING TO BEHOLD. WHY AREN’T I IN A VIDEO GAME. WHY AREN’T I A VIDEO GAME. TOBIAS HOW DID YOU FIND SUCH A COOL PERSON TO SHARE YOUR LIFE WITH.”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.18.2012 @ 11:30 am

“What on earth are you wearing?”

Astor blinked at Tobias’s question, glancing down at his attire. “What?”

“What an awful pattern,” Tobias marveled, grimacing at the trickster’s shirt. “You’re not going to wear that to the ceremony?”

“I always wear this at graduation!”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.15.2012 @ 7:55 pm

“Why are you throwing that away?”

Bean glanced up at Otto, unaccustomed to the edge his voice had attained.

“What?”

“Why are you throwing that away?”

“Because it’s empty.”

“So put it in the recycling bin.”

“Wh – oh.” Bean blushed, having forgotten about the taller boy’s personal connection with the preservation of nature, what with his being a dryad and all. “Sorry.” He tossed his empty soda can into the recycling bin and was rewarded with a huge, toothy smile.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.11.2012 @ 11:54 am

“This is a gourmet meal, Tobias. A veritable feast.”

“Astor, this is microwaved chicken strips. And remember, I told you why I don’t eat chicken.”

“HOW IS IT THAT I ALWAYS FORGET THAT no matter, /I/ will eat the chicken. Uh, I also have some pizza rolls in the fridge?”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.10.2012 @ 12:14 pm

Astor dismissed Tobias’s objections with a wave of his hand. “It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

It was so like his old friend to completely disregard just how much could potentially go wrong in the phoenix’s marrying a mortal woman.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.09.2012 @ 6:50 pm

“What the hell is brunch,” Caius asked, frowning at the pancakes Delaney was scooping onto his plate.

“It’s between breakfast and lunch,” she explained. “When yer too lazy to eat two whole meals so you just scrunch them both up into one.

“There doesn’t seem to be a point.”

Delaney shrugged with a bright smile. “Not so sure there is one, but you won’t complain once you’ve had one o’ them pancakes! Eat up!”

Posted By Julia A. On 03.08.2012 @ 12:20 pm

Here, allow me to demonstrate for you how NOT to be a good friend. Step 1, be clinically depressed. Step 2, refuse any and all forms of help for said clinical depression, opting instead to use your friend as a crutch for your crippling sadness and self-loathing. Step 3, take advantage of your friend’s kindness and guilt-trip them into spending every waking moment of their day with you, even though she is a solitary being by nature and needs a certain number of lonely hours each day to keep sane. Step 4, make these waking moments even more unbearable by constantly belittling yourself, refusing any and all compliments and attempts at consolation, and becoming sullen at the mention of random, perfectly mundane things such as friends and fun.

Repeat.

Posted By Julia A. On 03.07.2012 @ 8:29 pm