Second Nature
"Oh, they came up with something new in prosthetics just last year, it turns out," his dragon head turned to the bat as they gamed, back to sitting side by side in his apartment facing his screen, just as they'd been before. "Oh, what?" he tilted his...
Flame War
Despite his best efforts, Rakim's fears around his Irshad's ongoing holy war against the flames continued to grow. "Do... Do you think you're going to be a firefighter for the rest of your life, mother?" Her countenance darkened a bit at this. "I know...
Idle Hands
Rakim had sort of told himself ahead of time that his date probably wasn't going to work out to guard against disappointment. He discovered that he didn't fully have a plan for if his date actually did work out, that he wasn't sure if he was even...
Sand in the Gears
It wasn't easy to meet people. First you wanted someone who'd get past all the things that most people couldn't get past about you. That was already a big one, especially for someone like Rakim. Then you needed someone who'd be willing and able to...
Concerning Flight
Like the other teenagers at his high school, Rakim took an interest in video games. While the lower middle class meant his range of access could be somewhat limited, it became something he'd spent spare money on as soon as he had it, at least, for a...
Bat Outta Hell
Rakim and his mother moved to the West when he was but a child. He only remembered bits and pieces from those days, the way one tends to half-remember things from early childhood, before one is even of age for kindergarten. Buildings, landscapes,...
Face The World
The raft on the canal between the rows of cow carcasses led Mano to a white door with a scale carved in, Libra-like. There was no doorknob, but one of the scale's sides was high while the other one was low. Looking closely, she saw that the high one...
Join The Dance
The room that Klein walked into was bare and white, like an empty vessel. There were two life-sized mannequins resting at its center, laying half on top of each other in a heap with strings folding down around them. As he approached them, the strings...
The Preserver
Boko's living quarters had looked like nothing else that Klein had ever seen. A concealed trapdoor in the forest floor had opened into an extremely large open underground room which served as the chameleon's home. There were stairs on the walls and...
Worship
Klein had been a weird kid. He hadn't paid enough attention in class, even though he'd done well enough overall. He'd never cared for team sports. The other kids had made fun of him for being a skunk a lot. His parents hadn't been quite as bad as...
Oasis
'_It's a good thing that I've already read this before_,' she groaned inwardly as the shaking bus rudely closed the book she was re-reading in her hands yet again, _'Or there's no way I'd be able to keep up with it otherwise.'_ The cephalopod had...
Wonderland
"Eli, is... is there anything I can do to help?" The turtle-crab had raised an eyebrow quizzically at her. "To help with what?" Mano hadn't known how to broach the topic. "Have you ever thought about seeing someone? About everything that happened, I...