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 Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:33 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:33 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:34 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:35 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:41 pm
s o l o Give It a Rest Already! (1001 words)
Not even music could drown out the sound of their yells. Caelum pursed his lips and stretched a hand over to the knob on his computer and upped the volume of his song to block out his mom and pep, but even that couldn't stop the stirred-up feelings within him. It'd been some time since the four of them had moved from New Jersey to Destiny City. Conner, his elder brother, situated himself well; in under a week, he had managed to settle into a social clique and win the respect and admiration of his peers. However, Caelum had trouble even talking to someone, let alone accepting their move altogether. He was horrifically homesick for the life he knew, the friends he had known all of his life, and most of all, the cranberry farm he thought would eventually become his.
It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair! Life sucks!
When the guitar riffs and bang of drums became more of a hindrance than an aid, Caelum ripped the headphones from his ears and slammed them down on his desk. Frowning deeply, he kicked himself up to standing, half-stumbling as his computer chair rolled away, and marched his way from his room to down the hall where he could hear the anger in Rigel and Fiora's voices.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Fiora?" Rigel said, banging a fist on the dining room table and glaring at his wife. Caelum, who watched on from the corridor's shadow, feared his father had hit his mother, but that wasn't the case. "I had no choice, it was either us or the farm. Why can't you get that through your thick skull?"
"Oh screw you, Rigel!" Fiora shot back, hugging arms beneath her diaphragm and turning her head away from him. "This is... This is all of your fault! If you had just paid attention... We wouldn't be in this mess. The farm was all we had, Rigel, but now even that's gone. My father's farm, the farm I grew up on, is gone because of you." Here, Caelum's mother turned to her husband and glared at him. "That's something I'm not going to let you forget. Ever."
Rigel let out a long, troubled exhalation to the point he had to take off his glasses and cup his face in his hands. Fiora continued to hover over him, expecting another statement to rebuke while their youngest son watched from his hidden vantage point. Eventually, Caelum's father stood, and gave Fiora two brief glances.
"I did what I could," he said. "The numbers didn't say we'd go belly-up so quickly, Fiora. I thought we had more time."
Caelum noticed his mother's jaw clench. Her hands curled into fists and, unlike his father, she looked like she was holding back from colliding her fist with the tabletop. "You... never... listened... to me..." she said through short, angry huffs. "I said... I told you... we were in the red. I told you we were in trouble, Rigel, but your words were always the same. "We're fine, we're fine." Like hell we were! All you cared about was buying new machinery and expanding the farm! Did you think, just once, about what it took to sustain this family?"
"That's because you wouldn't get off my back about it!" Rigel shouted. "You were on my back about replacing the beater and press, so I put money towards those first. And then you complained about what an eyesore the old barn was, so I thought to tear it down and build something there, but now you try and turn it around to say it's my fault? I was just doing what you wouldn't shut up about!"
"Don't you dare say most of this is my fault!" Fiora said. "I wasn't "on your back" about it! You're the one that was spending money left and right!"
Caelum couldn't take more of this. Their arguments were completely cyclical. Pride was his family's poison; it was either one person accepted fault or they would fling blame back and forth until someone did. He knew that, if he didn't step in and make himself known, they would continue until exhausted only to repeat same exhausted reasons in the morning. Caelum strode over from the hallway to the dining room table and clutched the edge. After a moment, he waited for them to notice him, and when they didn't, he broke through to them himself.
"Would you two just give it a rest already!" Caelum said, glaring at them. Rigel and Fiora jumped slightly at the appearance of their son and exchanged glances before resting their eyes on him. "You've been arguing since we moved here! So what if we had to leave that stupid farm? Who cares if our house is smaller? Who cares about money? You... Both of you aren't the only ones suffering! Ugh!" He threw his hands in frustration. "Both of you won't shut up! I can't concentrate! I have homework I have to work on, can't you two just let me have some peace and quiet?"
With that, Caelum turned on his heel and returned to his room. He didn't get his through intentions across, but at least he made one thing clear: This just wasn't about them. Their problems ran deeper than just what his mom and pep had expected. Straining his ear toward his closed door, he waited for their yelling to resume, but all he heard was the soft shuffle of feet across the carpet and a creak. It seemed his parents had moved from the dining room to their own. Letting out a sigh, he could only hope for the best, and his desires were answered: Not a peep was made from Rigel or Fiora the rest of the evening. Even in the morning, when Caelum woke up, he saw them exchange a soft, albeit saddened, smile between sips of their coffee. Thankfully, it seemed his words had gotten through them.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2015 9:28 am
s o l o Go Your Own Way (627 words)
"Hun, while you're out, can you pick up some milk and eggs?"
Caelum cast a glance over her shoulder, studying the back of his mother as she sidestepped left and right between stirring a pot on the stove and the recipe book on the counter. He let out a sigh and squeezed the skateboard under his arm a little tighter.
"Yea, sure, mom. Anything else?"
"Nope, there's nothing, Cae. Just be back home before dinner!"
"Sure, sure. See you."
Clicking the door shut behind him, Caelum walked the short path to the sidewalk. Dropping his skateboard with a clatter, he stepped up on it, and pushed himself off into a slow, steady roll down the road. He frowned all of the while, unable to wrap his head around his actions. Caelum couldn't stand being in his house. Yes, Rigel and Fiora had quelled their arguments and saved their petty squabbles to behind closed doors so neither of their sons would have to hear. Unfortunately, the sting of their words remained, and Caelum couldn't even feel uncomfortable under their roof.
Yet it just wasn't just disgust as to why he left his home. Fiora was worried about him. Unlike Conner, he still hadn't made any friends while in Destiny City. Sure, he had some questionable encounters—awakening as a senshi and killing strange monsters called youma being among them—upon arriving, but they seemed to pale in comparison to his loneliness. He had no one to talk to regarding his situation and he felt a tad reluctant to search out the guardian cat that awoke him in the first place. All he had was himself and his thoughts. Bringing up his situation with his parents would also be impossible; Rigel and Fiora would think he was playfully recanting a show he'd seen on television. He would always been seen as a kid in their eyes.
Caelum kicked off the around again and his board picked up speed down the incline of the sidewalk. He kept going, even passed the supermarket he was expected to pick up the items his mother requested. Leaning into the curve of the path, Caelum guided his skateboard down block and into the park where he was first awakened. He skidded to a stop in the very area it happened and the memories came flooding back to him. There was the handrail he tried to grind on before splaying out on the concrete; there was the gash marks in the bark from the youma when it watched him from the treetops; there was the long path he rushed down as the youma chased him.
Caelum dug into his hoodie's pocket and pulled out his henshin pen. "I've only just started being a senshi and... already. Already it is a handful," he said. "It's going to to drive a wedge into everything I do. Especially with my parents..." This much Caelum knew. "I could end it all here, step away from this sucky thing. I can, but..." He clutched the pen hard, almost enough for it to snap. His glare at it suddenly dropped to a frown. "I can't... I can't do it. I... I like it too much."
He remembered his encounters—with Hadaya, Iduna, with Maggie, and Lenka—and his mind reeled back. Caelum had only just met them, but he enjoyed those encounters. Those people treated him better than his parents ever did. "I will... I will go my own way, carve out my own path. My parents can argue all they want, I will not have a part of it." Nodding his head, Caelum pocketed the pen, stepped back up on his board, and kicked off into a roll from the park to the supermarket.
I will become my own person from here on out.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 11:01 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 8:59 pm
s o l o I Spy (529 words)
It felt like a days' long game of I Spy without an answer in sight.
And Cadmus had grown tired of playing.
It had started off as a small tickle near the base of his jowl; something the chibi sailor had confused for a scratch. Eventually, he thought he was finally growing in more chin hair, but all of the checking in the mirror came to no avail. As the tug began to grow, however, and slither its way up from his jowl, to his temple, and then the top of his head, that's when Cadmus knew there was more to this feeling then his belief and desire it was puberty. (Hey, he'd been waiting his whole lifetime to grow a lumberjack beard, okay? Let the fella dream.)
So the last few nights when he powered-up and escaped through the window in his room, Cadmus didn't set to gliding from rooftop to rooftop or practicing the aim of his Bouncing Berry Blitz, but instead, putting his nose to the wind and searching for the source of the tug that had consumed the entirety of his head like a ravenous, slobbing youma. At first, Cadmus searched the area that he knew best: The park near his home. He dropped low to look under bushes, up high to the treetops to get a better view of the skyline, and even into stinky sewers should the source of it all be lurking there. Yet, he came up empty every time. He would then return home with a slight grumble, only to repeat the process the next day.
On the umpteenth day of his search, Cadmus sat high in the canopies again. He looked positively beat and sniffled as the chill of the day got to him. He really wished he had a warmer outfit; especially not something with tassels, as if they could keep him warm. Rising, he looked out to the sunset of Destiny City and scanned his eyes about. Nothing seemed out of the normal, but the tugging feeling still persisted, and its calling was growing the more he sat idle without answering it.
I have no idea what's going on... he thought to himself. But whatever this is, it isn't bad. I mean, it isn't good either because I have no idea what it is, but I just have to find out what.
As he thought this, he caught some movement in his periphery; specifically, what seemed to be another head ducking back into the treetops. Against his better judgement, but with the thrilling belief it was the answer to his problem, Cadmus bounded off toward it. "Aha, finally, I got you—!" he shouted when he landed there, but it appeared as though the figure was gone. The only thing that remained were scraps on the branches; as if a pair of claws or long heels had etched a bit of the wood. Cadmus let out a doleful yowl of frustration. Sighing once again, the chibi sailor dropped back to the earth and made his way home.
It felt like a days' long game of I Spy without an answer in sight.
And Cadmus had grown tired of playing.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 11:17 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:36 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:13 am
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:20 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 11:08 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 6:14 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:47 pm
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