I was tagged in the crossfire by @muddshadow and let me just say thank you because I love doing these.
I’ll be tagging @pinespittinink, @sentfromwolves, @kashacreates and anyone else who wishes to do this! Your words are: WALK, ROOM, LAUGH, FRIEND, and WRONG.
All snippets here are from Cure the Queen! (I did Relic of the Gods last time.)
KIND
They kept walking.
Killian’s posture straightened. He looked behind them.
“What is it?” Adler asked.
“Might be our lucky day,” Killian said. “Smells like whiskey.”
“How can you even tell?” Riela muttered from behind Kanjo.
“How is whiskey going to help us?” Adler asked.
“Because if that’s the kind of truck I think it is,” Killian said. “We might have a ride.”
Kanjo was about to chastise the man on his bullshit, but bit his tongue. Hope could keep them walking for another mile.
Then, off in the distance behind them, Kanjo heard a vehicle approaching. He looked back, but he didn’t see anything yet. They were on a downslope now, limiting visibility behind them.
They walked for another five minutes. Kanjo got a crick in his neck looking back as much as he did. Finally, he caught sight of the truck. It was a giant one, with one of those combustion engines. Kanjo’d known it would have been that type of engine, given how loud the truck was.
Their walking place slowed, but didn’t halt completely. The truck caught up with them in a couple of minutes regardless. Killian flagged it down.
Kanjo got a closer look at the truck. The truck itself had tank treads on the back four drive wheels, and the front two had been replaced with wide skis for steering. The trailer was a flatbed, with one of those canvas coverings. It would hold six giant barrels of whiskey. Two remained.
MISS
“No third room,” Riela said.
“If you two are trying to share a bed that badly, I don’t mind if you’re sleeping in the same room I’m in,” Rinnie said.
Riela slid into the seat in between Rinnie and Nathaniel. She raised an eyebrow at Rinnie.
“I’m not sure what to think of that,” she said.
Rinnie shrugged. “Can’t speak for Mica though.”
Riela flushed and looked down at her mug. Given everyone else’s sleeping arrangements, Riela and Nathaniel’d had the room to themselves the previous night. They could survive the night not in the same bed.
“Mmm, what’d I miss last night?” Rinnie said.
Riela looked up and saw that Paul was also flushed and trying not to look at the table where the demonic astral woman was sitting.
REALIZE
“Have you guys ever fought an air elemental before?” Zeh’ave called, laughter in her voice.
They all looked between each other, confused and mildly concerned.
“I didn’t think so,” Zeh’ave continued. “Or if you had, you’ve only done it in an enclosed room.”
They still looked confused. Zeh’ave was surprised she’d gotten this far. Maybe they were too shocked from their plan failing. Maybe they were just dumb. She decided she’d lay it all out for them.
“This shield is air permeable, and in a column. That smoke is going to rise up and blow away before it ever causes me a problem.”
The mage revealed himself. All of the men were tall and broad, but what differentiated this man from the other two was that he had hair. Both of the other guys were bald. Mage summoned a ball of crackling blue lightning. He threw it at Zeh’ave.
Zeh’ave laughed. She felt the lightning coming for her and she absorbed its power. The power in the shield was limited and the mage had just given it all to Zeh’ave.
“Lightning won’t do you any good against an air elemental!” she sang.
The mage realized his fuckup and motioned for the other two to get her.
She needed to break the circle. But it was meant to keep her in. So she needed to get the mage to break the circle.
SAME
“What’s up with your friend anyway?” Ashora asked, looking across to the other cabin. Killian or Kanjo had closed the little blinds, preventing others from looking in half an hour or so ago, but Ashora had seen Rinnie passed out on one of the beds before that.
Nathaniel and Paul exchanged glances. Paul shrugged a little. Nathaniel took in a deep breath and swallowed. Riela pursed her lips.
Ashora cocked an eyebrow, examining the three of them. “And if you tell me that she’s hungover, I won’t believe you, but I’ll accept the answer because maybe it’s not my place to know.”
Nathaniel made the exact same face he made when he’d danced around the subject of being a Marine before he’d told anyone at the Tom. And the first person he’d told was Riela.
“She’s a shell-shocked caster,” Nathaniel said after a moment, with a deep sigh.
Ashora winced. “That’s rough,” she grunted. “Is she seeing someone about it?”
“That’s the plan in Schönestaffel,” Nathaniel answered.
Ashora nodded, satisfied with the answer. “May her troubles ease,” she murmured.
SHOULD
“What’s wrong with your memory?” Rinnie asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
There was a lilt to her voice and her face was scrunched up into Zeh’ave shoulder, which Zeh’ave was consciously trying to make more comfortable. Either she was doing a good job or Rinnie had dealt with air elementals before. Or she didn’t care. She was definitely doped out on a lot of things though.
“It’s always been like this,” Zeh’ave said with half a shrug. Killian passed her the flask again. “I remember at one point I was looking for someone. But I couldn’t tell you who they are. So I’ve just made a life for myself with what I do remember.”
“Not remembering things sucks,” Killian said.
“How would you know?” Zeh’ave asked. She took another drink.
He twiddled the metal spar in his fingers.
“Oh, yeah,” Zeh’ave mused. “That would do it. Wish my issues were that simple.”
“If you have a spike in your head, I can take it out,” Rinnie said, her words somewhat slurred now.
“I… don’t,” Zeh’ave said, frowning. “Maybe I shouldn’t pass you the flask.”
Faster than Zeh’ave assumed her capable of, Rinnie grabbed the flask from her. She took a swig, hiccupped, and passed the flask to… Mica! That was her name!
“I should know not to out-drink a Timernan,” Rinnie muttered.
جو کوئی عاشورہ کے دن اپنے کھانے میں وسعت کرے یعنی خوب پکائے اور کھلائے تو سال بھر اس کے گھر میں برکت رہے گی۔ . . . . . Follow @engrfaisalimran . . . . . #islam #religion #muslim #muslims #moharam #10moharram #ashora #dawateislami #madanichannel #lahore #pakistan #islamabad #karbala #imamhussain #imam #islamabad #imambargah #molaali #molahussain #bibizainab #ali #aliasghar #aliakbar #hadiths #hadees #quotes #badamibagh #momineen #quran #motivation (at Engr. Muhammad Faisal Imran) https://www.instagram.com/p/CStkgsqIJ0r/?utm_medium=tumblr
A red glow drew Killian’s eyes to Ashora. Her eyes burned red. Similar colored sparks flew from her fingertips as she pummeled the gunner under her into a paste. He was already dead.
Killian’s eyes went wide and he darted towards her. He tackled her, rolling her off the guy. He had to be careful of both the metal benches around them and her horns.
“Do not,” he roared. “Undo everything…” He pinned her biceps to the ground and put eighty-percent of the rest of his weight onto her core. “You have worked for!”
Ashora steeled herself and Rinnie detected a power surge around her. Then Ashora bodily slammed the door and it cracked off its hinges. It creaked to the side.
Right after this, Rinnie heard a very distinctive “Clear!” from across the hall. She looked and noted red-hot edges around the door to her usual cabin. There was another thwack and then the door fell into the hallway as Kanjo did exactly what Ashora had just done.
She locked eyes with him and they both smirked as they surveyed what had happened to the doors.
Gunshots to Rinnie’s right shattered the moment and Rinnie peered around the edges of the frozen doorway, careful not to let her face touch the frost. The hallway was dark as the frost had killed much of the lighting and was working on killing even more, but Rinnie could tell that the shots must have come from inside one of the other cabins. She didn’t see anyone in the hallway.
