Yet So Far Away

"I try running away, I'm just not fast enough... My own friends hate me, but I don't give a shit." (Wavves, Green Eyes) "I can't believe you did this _again_." Aside from the droning hum of her ship's engine, the two of them had been sitting in...

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A Man To Fish

"Now, fighting isn't just about power." Jackie was standing straight up in front of her, giving Dex her full attention. "It's about flow, range, leverage, and direction." Dex was slowly pacing back and forth in front of the roach as she talked, her...

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Eye of a Needle

"Are you afraid of needles, Fran?" Fran had always vaguely hated hospitals. This must have been a fairly widespread sentiment all over Earth, she imagined. Of course, you go to the hospital because you need to, not because you want to, she told...

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Bellerophon

Diaz knew that the chimera, having trounced him soundly, and with there being only one fight left, wasn't going to have to leave the ring until the tournament would be over. He certainly didn't expect to see the monster get out of the ring where the...

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Rakim felt a cold bead of sweat dripping down his back. "Feel your 'sins crawling down your back,' buddy?" The bat looked up at her, mouth agape. "Huh?" The hare winked at him. "Relax, I'm just kidding around. Good luck, man!" she chirped. ...

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Phone Home

_ "Thank you, Fran." Her best friend and her roommate had been there to welcome her in her hospital room after she'd woken up. It had made her glad to be back._ _ "For what?" She'd tried to sit up in her hospital bed. Harder than it looked._ _ "For...

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Mean You No Harm

_Fran had worked the nightshift at a convenience store. It had suited her in some ways. After a short, mercifully optimistic period of settling into it, it had become customary for her to think of herself as hating her job. Most people hated their jobs...

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Off Limits

_"Time for bed, sweetie."_ _ Fran looked crestfallen. "Can't I just stay up until the next commercial?"_ _ Her mother grinned, endeared yet still reproachful. "You always say that." The days always seemed so short. Whenever they were at an end, all...

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Die A Thousand Deaths

'Everyone has secret words that can save them. Everyone has secret words that can kill them.' (Unknown) "So they weren't slaves?" "Not technically," Fran's best friend had answered. "I'll be gosh-darned," the jackal had shaken her head....

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Cockroach Motherfuckers

"There's two kinds of work in the world." Fran's roommate was a communist. "First, there's work-that-stays." She was also a writer. "Then, there's work-that-goes-away." The jackal didn't write, herself, but she'd asked about what made her roommate...

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By A Thousand Cuts

"People get them without thinking." Fran and her roommate were watching her pets chasing each other around their living room. "They get them for their kids." "That's the thing!" she concurred. "They think of animals as lesser lifeforms than people for...

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