PART 2

O/o\O

Suggested Listening: "Baked Words", Code Geass OST

O/o\O

"And what exactly are you doing here?"

Kyoko looked up from her CD player, the perfect position for her worn pair of headphones disrupting partway through, causing the song's left channel to go dead. She cursed against her lip at the ratty technology and stuffed the relic further into the pockets of her hoodie. A red hoodie, this time, she was proud to say. It was rare for Kyoko to actually bother swapping out clothes when they didn't need washing, but she figured the blunette glaring at her from just down the path already had enough reasons to spite her, she didn't need to add 'poor hygiene' to that list… regardless of the fact that it'd be an accurate assumption.

The redhead stepped forward onto the cobblestone path, kicking off the tree and twisting to face the blunette in one swell foop.

"Thought I'd teach you proper loitering protocol. Y'get arrested if you don't know how to do it right, y'know…" Kyoko grinned, letting her disfigured fang pop free. "You'll note I was out of the main path and firmly supported by the nearest tree."

Sayaka tightened her glare, her brows becoming more and more wrinkled, "…Wanna bitch me out for something stupid? Is that all you came for? Because the only currency this complaint department is dealing in at the moment is fists…"

The redhead's smile shrunk, crimson eyes scanning over the shaking blunette. Kyoko had made a massive miscalculation.

"H-hey! Wait, ch-chill, okay?" Kyoko started, scratching the back of her head. "I was just making a joke, okay? Break the ice and all that…"

The glare did not falter. In fact, it may have gotten sharper.

"Then why are you here? Because, if you don't have something important to say, I have a paper to get a jump on," Sayaka snarled, fingers digging into the frilled sleeve of her blouse.

Kyoko twisted her mouth to the side and scratched at her chin, small tints of pink rising to her cheeks, "I was actually coming here to apologize about the other day… I… uh… I'm sorry for getting so snappy with you. I mean, with Mami and everything, I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind either. Can't imagine what it must be like for someone who's been around her these days…"

The glare gave just a bit, though one of Sayaka's hands was still clenched firmly around the threads of her denim vest. She opened her mouth, "Then what the fuck was that whole 'loitering' spiel you just blew at me?"

"Tch…" Kyoko swished, embarrassment fading to the wind, "It's called 'teasing', Eiffle 65. I wasn't being serious or anything, just having a good time laughing at you…"

Sayaka's eye twitched, "And I'm supposed to be happy about you laughing at me?"

The redhead finally rolled her eyes, "Look, do you want your stupid apology or not?"

The blunette crossed her arms, eyes lancing out over the expansive college campus, "I just find it hard to believe you'd be apologizing so suddenly. I might not know you, but you don't feel like someone who'd do this kind of thing willingly."

"Would you believe me that Mami strong-armed me into doing this?" Kyoko sighed, "And that I agreed so I could buy a surprise for someone on the way home?"

Sayaka's stance slackened, her eyes bouncing back and forth; captivating like crystals being tossed through the air. "I… guess that sounds about right…"

A ghost of a smile reemerged on Kyoko's face, seeing the other girl relax a bit, "Yeah… She was kinda bein' thickheaded about the two of us getting along since we had that little shouting match… And I mean, I wasn't doin' anything today… not like I'm going to pass up the request of someone in the hospital…"

"If that's… what she really wants…" the blunette muttered, biting her lip. Her shoulders finally fell and she looked into Kyoko's eyes. "I'm… sorry too. I probably shouldn't have been standing in the middle of that hallway."

"Damn straight," Kyoko barked, vindicated. Before Sayaka could even usher in a counter glare, the redhead continued, "And… I should have been watching where I was walking. We're both in the wrong, we both apologized. There, no skin off either of our backs…"

The statement was matter of fact and firm, ending with Kyoko placing her fists on her hips and her chin in the air, eyes closed and dignified.

At least, it would have been dignified if Sayaka hadn't broken down laughing.

"Oh-h my God… you… are so corny… What's with that pose?" the blunette spluttered, an arm under her gut.

Kyoko craned her head to the side, smirking as her fiery plume of hair trailed over her shoulders, "What, just because I'm a pain in the ass doesn't mean I can't be elegant from time to time. I thought since I was stooping myself to your level I might as well act the part."

"'Stooping' to my level?" Sayaka asked, raising an intrigued brow, "I wasn't aware having some dignity actually indicated lower status."

The redhead shrugged, "Yeah, well, you wouldn't. People only act 'prim an' proper' when they get rich; it's all for show and none of it means shit. As far as I'm concerned, hoity-toity people like that have their heads up their asses. From what Mami told me though, yours might just be loose enough to pry out."

Sayaka shuddered at the imagery, but a bemused smile seemed to counter the inadvertent tremble, "You're a real word smith, y'know that?"

"What can I say?" the girl shrugged again, "it's a gift! Pocky?" The statement was punctuated by a small red box extended from an unpocketed hand.

The blunette hesitantly reached for the outstretched confection, svelte fingers drawing a single stick from the package. She admired the chocolate stave for just a moment before looking the other girl in the eye.

Those stunning blue eyes; Kyoko swallowed as her stomach did a flipflop, seeing a brief smile behind those hypnotic orbs.

"Thank you… and really, I'm sorry about chewing at your throat… and slamming you against the wall," Sayaka sighed. "I've been… the last few weeks… hell, life in general's kinda sucked recently."

Kyoko nodded, looking away from those eyes as quickly as possible. The statement touched a chord and the blush racing to her face died before it even became a tint. The redhead shrugged and gave the blunette an understanding smile, "Preachin' to the choir there. Maybe we should form a club."

The proposition was met with another snicker from the student, knuckles pressed to rosy lips, "Maybe that's not such a bad idea."

The redhead's grin morphed into a smirk as she held out her hand, "Kyoko Sakura."

The palm that gripped her own was cool but pleasant, like rainwater on a stormy spring evening, "Sayaka. Sayaka Miki."

With a firm shake between them the two parted hands, both basking in the momentary awkwardness that was edging at their lack of conversation.

"Soo… College girl… You busy right now?" Kyoko asked, eyes switching side to side.

"Well… I have a report due in a few days, but nothing immediate, no…" Sayaka replied, not entirely sure where the other girl was going to take this.

"Well," Kyoko clapped, misshapen fang popping above her lower lip, "Let's start the first 'Life Sucks' club meeting by hitting the arcade!"

O/o\O

Suggested Listening: "Confessio", Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST

O/o\O

"You know, this doesn't feel like much of a club if I'm the one paying for most of these," Sayaka glared, thumb sliding off the coin slot. A thin film peeled away with the digit, making her reflexively itch the pad against her jeans. Normally she'd have reacted in disgust, but having been at the arcade for about an hour already it was a sensation she was becoming well acquainted with.

Kyoko shrugged from where she leaned, a stick of pocky dangling from her teeth, "Club protocol; rookie pays."

The student rolled her eyes, fingers tapping at a myriad of buttons on the arcade's control board as the game started up, "Didn't we literally just create it? Together?"

"Yeah, but I'm still your senior, so I deserve that much respect," Kyoko smirked.

Sayaka smirked back, challengingly, "If you think you're my senior, I'll start calling you an old woman; won't even wait for those red hairs to turn grey."

Kyoko popped a half-lidded eye, a half-hearted glare tearing through the space between them, "Call me old and I'll call you baby-face."

"Why not?" the blunette replied, shrugging, "You're already calling me all those other names, what's one more to the list? You, on the other hand, don't sound like you've got yourself a nickname yet, so I suppose I'll be gracious and grant you one."

"I've got plenty of nicknames… they're just ones you don't know about," Kyoko huffed, "Not like we're going to learn everything about each other in a day."

Something about the sentence gave Sayaka pause, and her hesitation ended up costing her the game. As the flashing 'Game Over' title illuminated her face, she looked Kyoko over and knitted her brows, "In just a day… A week ago we were at each other's throats… how… how the hell did I wind up in an arcade paying for you…?"

The question wasn't spiteful or venomous, nor was it layered in sarcasm as her earlier lamentation had been.

"I…" Kyoko started, leaning forward and standing under her own power, "I was actually starting to wonder something like that too…" The two stood in an uncomfortable silence as Kyoko circled past the blunette, leaning on a railing overlooking the first floor of the arcade. "Maybe Mami's got a better eye than I thought… If we hadn't started on bad terms maybe we'd have hit it off like this right away…"

"Mami…" Sayaka started, pulling away from the machine to lean next to the redhead, "She's something special, I can tell you that much…"

"She really is," Kyoko smiled. The smile flexed briefly, "So… what is she to you? You were pretty defensive yesterday. I mean I can't blame you, but that's not necessarily ordinary for 'just' friends…"

The blunette sighed, "How much did she tell you?"

The athlete grinned, answering as bluntly as she could manage, "That you, her and pinkie were about twenty minutes away from doin' the horizontal tango for the first time together." She grinned even harder when the normally azure girl could practically double as a tomato.

"Y-yeah… well… I mean… It's more complicated than just that…" the student spluttered. She took a calming breath to compose herself and moved to respond, "There's this… guy. K-Kyosuke. He's really sweet, a-and, uh, he's this prodigy violin player. I've known him since I was young and I always thought that one day I'd be able to say those three little words to him and he'd… well… we'd get married and have a dozen children together until we were old, grey and senile." The memory for her, even if it was only imagined, was pleasant and she couldn't repress a chuckle. "Then… my best friend… besides Madoka that is… she egged me to confess and I tried, only I never realized that when Kyosuke had gone into the hospital, ever since he'd been there, I'd been hurting him. He… and I… It didn't work out and my friend got him instead… If it weren't for Mami and Madoka, I'd probably have tried wandering home from the bar and drowned in a ditch somewhere… They saved me from myself and that's where a lot of it came together for me that the two of them were something far more special to me than just friends…"

"That's what you got all worked up over? You're a real drama queen by the sounds of it…" Kyoko noted, popping open a can of orange soda and downing a swig. The blunette glared at her, but Kyoko raised a hushing hand to indicate that she wasn't finished, "I can see why it's confusing though. Got a lot of people at play there, so things are going to get more convoluted. That's why I don't have many friends; keeps things streamlined." The statement was finished when she pulled another stick of pocky from the box in her jacket and bit down hard on it.

"Are you sure that's not just because you're an asshole?" Sayaka retorted.

Kyoko huffed, her eyes amused, "I do it on purpose; easier to be an asshole than to be nice." She shoved shoulders with the blunette, "I'm puttin' in some real effort here bein' here with you and not strangling you."

Sayaka laughed, but decided not to follow the tangent. Instead she reoriented her body and began to pick at her nails, sure to try and scrape out grime accumulated from the dirty arcade cabinets, "…I mean, hell, I still don't know if I'm a lesbian or if I'm just bi… I mean, I'm in love with Kyosuke, but he's the only guy I've ever wanted to be with… and the more I think about it Mami and Madoka are the only girls I've ever wanted to be with too… I have no idea what's going on in my head…"

"Less your head, more your crotch there," Kyoko replied dryly, pointing a stick of pocky to the younger girl's groin. "The blood that should be pumpin' to your noggin for those decisions is goin' somewhere else. Should probably learn to get that under control."

While she chuckled, Sayaka also shoved the redhead, wincing in some minor disgust, "God, does everything have to be sexual with you?"

The shorter girl shook her head, unmoved from the physical contact, "Nah, but I find that kind of stuff funny. I mean, so many people worry about finding the people they love… I learned the hard way that it's holding onto them that's the hard part…"

The blunette's smiled drooped at the words, the small little anecdote hitting her with a weight that Kyoko had never spoken with before. "The hard way?" she asked, tilting her head to look at the older girl in more detail; a struggle considering the dark lighting of the arcade.

Kyoko's gaze hollowed, her face clicking back towards the jumpy arcade floor, "What has Mami told you about me? About what happened?"

"She never really went into detail… Only ever mentioned that you two broke up… Which, I mean, gotta say, when Madoka told me who you were, I was surprised someone like you was Mami's girlfriend. You two seem like on completely different levels…" Sayaka explained, tapping her chin.

"Yeah, well…" Kyoko started, rolling her shoulders, "I used to be a cute kid, or so I've been told… I also used to be a goody-two-shoes. Maybe not as good as Mami… or Momo… but I was actually really religious. That was all before my dad tried to kill the rest of our family."

Sayaka flinched, not exactly expecting the sudden tonal shift in the conversation.

"He… he what?" the blunette asked, confused.

The athlete shoved her hands in her pockets and turned around so her back was leaning against the bar, "Murder-suicide. Attempted; he didn't actually succeed, but things still got pretty bad. See, dad was a priest who didn't fit in with the parent church… so he tried setting up shop on his own. But barely anyone would listen, and while Mami was a sight for sore eyes to us, like really, she saved our sorry asses, it was a real hit when the biggest donor we had pulled their money. Never did learn why they did it, only that they apparently sent one hell of an apology to dad that made him lose it." Kyoko paused, wiggling a pocky between her lips, "I think he was trying to spare us from starving to death… but in the end he couldn't go through with it, especially when he remembered I was staying over at Mami's. That's why he cut mom and Momo down and threw out his own noose. The ambulance guys must've been miracle workers too, honestly…"

The conversation died off, with Kyoko pointedly looking away from her younger compatriot. She only turned after she heard sniffling from just below the ambient noise of the arcade.

Then she felt a rather precise fist to her shoulder.

"Goddamnit," Sayaka hicked, "Why'd y' gotta go and tell me that… Make me look like a fuckin' idiot with my problems, will you?"

Kyoko raised up her hands in defense, surprised by the violent outburst. Another set of knuckles was caught in her palm as Sayaka threw another limp punch, "Relax, relax blueberry, I wasn't trying to make you cry over it, okay? That's all years gone now, alright? By the sounds of things your crap happened way more recently so I don't blame you for being a little more crazy about it." She lowered the captured fist and tried to get a beat on the crying eyes behind sunken blue bangs, "… Mami said somethin' like 'Everyone's entitled to their own marrows'… no… no, that wasn't it… 'woes'? Maybe… Huh…" The redhead paused, trying to regain her train of thought, "But that's not the point! Point is, you feel real strong about that shit, right? My shit is my shit, yours is yours; if we start trying to prove who's smells worst all we're going to do is stink up the joint, so don't worry about it, okay?"

"Jesus Christ…" Sayaka shuddered, reeling from the analogy, "You have the most disgusting sense of poetry I've ever seen!"

Kyoko glared, "Hey now, I use to be an alter girl. Keep using the lord's name in vain like that and I'll kick your ass."

Sayaka paused, biting her lip as she decoupled her hand from Kyoko's, "But, I mean… I really don't have room to talk… Wow, I really shouldn't have yelled at you in the hospital…"

"No, you shouldn't have," Kyoko grinned, "but that's behind us now, and so is all that shit that we were both talking about. So, let's play another round of Time Crisis to kick off the festivities!"

Sayaka smiled, lips reaching not her ears, but certainly her eyes, "Better idea. Wanna come hang out at my place? I've got some home consoles that won't eat my wallet that I've been neglecting for the last semester. They could use some love…"

The redhead raised a surprised brow, "You know, my mom told me never to go anywhere I didn't feel safe with a stranger… 'sides, I don't think I've quite schooled you enough at DDR. We need a rematch since I'm sure that last game was a fluke…"

"There'll be snacks…~" Sayaka tacked on, voice dipping into a pleasant falsetto.

Kyoko stared her right in the eye, red matching blue for a scant moment before Sayaka was dragged forward by her wrist. Before she could blink the two were outside, rushing down the street.

"Slow down you speed demon!-Do you even know where you're going?-Damnit Kyoko listen to me!-I LIVE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!"

O/o\O

"Jesus motherfucking Christ, I know you're cheating!" Kyoko shouted, bashing her controller against the floor pillow.

"And you said I needed to be cautious about being sacrilegious. And watch where you're slamming that controller," Sayaka replied, half laughing, half threatening with that latter statement.

"I used to be an alter girl. Used to be, so I'm allowed to," the redhead huffed, pointedly ignoring the scoreboard on the screen.

"That makes even less sense!" Sayaka giggled, playfully throwing her hands into the air.

Kyoko rolled her eyes, "Jeez, you're almost as annoying as this one chick that kept bragging whenever her team one the soccer tournament in fifth grade. Wouldn't stop harping about how her team was better and how, when we knew they were cheating, we were just lying…" The redhead trailed off, pieces of that particularly unpleasant memory coming back to her. It was only when there was a flash of blue among the images that she narrowed her eyes, "Wait a minute…"

She shot a stunned glare over to Sayaka, who was looking at her much the same way. The two pointed, and shouted, at the same time.

"You!"

The duo sat, shocked mouths agape, unsure where to carry the conversation.

"Y-you kicked me in the shins!" Sayaka spluttered, fist balling.

"You deserved it for being a lying cheat! You tripped me when I was trying to steal the ball from you!" Kyoko snarled back.

"Your cleats weren't tied up right! It was your own stupidity that tripped you!"

"Like hell it was! My sister made sure they were extra tight each game because she didn't want that to happen!"

Hands gripped at Kyoko's shoulders, and only then did she see how Sayaka's eyebrow was tweaking, like it wanted to tear itself off her face, a face that had morphed into a horrifyingly empty smile, "I… I got a red card for that little argument. I couldn't play in the championship match. I was the laughing stock of the team…"

Kyoko raised her own challenging brow at the blunette, gripping the girl's wrists in defiance of the taller girl's hold, "Yeah? And you think I did any better? I couldn't even afford to play after that and my soccer career here in Mitakihara had me going out as a delinquent."

"As I recall," Sayaka twitched, lowering her eyes to glare into red ones, "You were already on the district's budget team. It's already filled with delinquents; you were just one of a pack."

"Back the fuck off," Kyoko snapped, easily shoving Sayaka backwards. The mood changed. The banter, until that point, had actually been pleasant. The shouts and grapples had an underlying hint of jest, resolution to old, pointless wounds coming to a close with a mock argument. But the last line had shifted the field into a far more serious place for the former alter girl. "Don't talk shit about them; any of them! This shit is between you and me!"

Sayaka for her part didn't know how to react to the harsh outburst. She drew back and rested her hands in her lap, swallowing in uncomfortable silence as Kyoko glared at the TV.

"…Is that really what people thought of us?" Kyoko asked, her voice cracking along the words.

The blunette frowned, wringing her hands, "…Yeah. The 'Misfit Team' was pretty infamous in the league… Always losing, filled with kids who didn't behave; people knew the only reason the team existed was because they had enough kids and could somehow get enough money to pay the entry fee for the league." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, "Can't say you exactly endeared me, either. That little red card made me hate the misfits."

Kyoko drew here legs closer to herself, wrapping her body up into a ball, "…Some of them were bullies… but most of us didn't have enough money to be on a better team, or had some kind of health defect other teams wouldn't take. Everyone was there to have fun; I was the only one who played to win, which is why you pissed me off so much. I wanted to show my little sister you didn't need money to win big. Of course, rest of my team kinda tanked that idea, but I could still do something on my own."

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Sayaka asked, drawing in and hugging one of the many pillows scattered on the floor.

Kyoko nodded and wiped a few frustrated tears that had gathered on her cheeks, "I almost never get to see her, barely even talk to her, and each time she sounds so different… I just hope she's being raised right… I wanted to be there for her and I can't."

The blunette tightened the hold on the pillow, biting her lip for the right words, "…I don't know what to tell you. I've never had a sibling, so… I mean, I guess Madoka and I have been close forever, but…" Her voice dipped, uncomfortable to carry on that chain of thought, "…S-still! If your sister is even half as stubborn as you are, I think she'll be fine."

"Hah," the athlete sniffed, sleeving at her nose, "Momo's the squishiest person I've ever known… But thanks. I can only hope she managed to grow a solid backbone while we've been apart."

Quiet floated between them, more comfortable this time with the tension in the air dispelling.

"Would… do you need a hug?" Sayaka asked, looking at the slumped shoulders and the tired eyes of the other girl.

"N-no," Kyoko blushed, pulling her legs in tighter. "We just met, don't expect to get all touchy feely with me okay? It's weird enough we're talking about this kind of heavy shit right out the gate."

The student shrugged, "I mean, I was kinda thinkin' the opposite; this is the quickest I've ever gotten to know someone… It's been a quick turnaround, so why not just go all in?"

"…You're the weirdest chick I've ever met…" Kyoko huffed.

"Pot and kettle, pot and kettle," Sayaka sing-songed, smiling.

The redhead growled, "Look if you're going to hug me, just do it already, alright? Stop palyin' around."

Sayaka laughed, wasting no time in wrapping her arms around the pouty ginger. A few seconds in and the fiery girl relaxed into the hold. Her frown may not have dissipated, but the tension between them dispelled almost entirely.

"It sounds like you were a good older sister…" Sayaka mumbled, pulling away, "And I think you're going to look like an even better one when you get to tell her that you were right about that bitch at that one soccer game all those years ago…"

Kyoko blinked, face suddenly growing red for a whole new reason, "What? So you did cheat?!"

The blunette chuckled, "No, I'm all about playing fair… but she doesn't have to know that. If it means helping someone like her stay on the straight and narrow, I'll play the bad guy for you. You can tell her I 'admitted' my guilt the next time you see her and that I'm very sorry for hurting you."

The redhead stared at her, quickly punching the taller girl in the shoulder.

"Ahch! Hey! I'm helping you out here!" Sayaka pouted, rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, well, stop being nice to me! I don't like taking pity," Kyoko pouted back.

The student shook her head, "It's not pity; it's taking one for the team. Friends do that for one another."

"You think we're friends?" Kyoko asked, raising her brow.

"Of course we are. I think sharing our sob stories is like the friendship rite-of-passage," she shrugged back. "You might be an ass, but I had a lot of fun today. So I'm pretty sure that in small enough doses I can handle being your friend," she added, sticking her tongue out and winking.

Kyoko had to remind her heart to keep beating at the little silly display; a galling fact considering the backhanded compliments it included.

The redhead managed a smile, "Yeah, well… Okay… I… I guess we exchange cell numbers now? Or something?"

Sayaka nodded, digging out her phone, as did Kyoko. It was only after they finished passing over the numbers did Kyoko realize how late it actually was.

"Ah shit, I need to get to the station before they close down the trains," she explained, standing.

"Oh! I'll walk with you!" the blunette said standing.

Kyoko stumbled over a pillow on her way to the apartment entranceway, "More like running, actually, and you'll only slow me down."

"I've got longer legs!" Sayaka shot back.

"Doesn't count for shit if you don't know how to use them!" Kyoko laughed.

It took only a split second for her to get on her shoes and another to crack the door. Before she continued outside, she turned back, looking at the blunette on the wooden step. She shot the girl a toothy grin, letting her errant fang loose once more.

"I had fun today too… So I'll text ya. I promise!" With that she was out the door, shouting back, "Have a good night!"

She barely heard from behind her the taller girl shouting, "Be safe, don't get mugged!"

Kyoko laughed, maneuvering her way down the apartment's steps to the bottom floor before bolting down the street. Sayaka was a real rollercoaster to be around, but that was more than just a little invigorating. Hell, Kyoko's heart was still beating a mile a minute by the time she reached the station, winded but nowhere near drained of energy. She made a silent vow to herself to do a few laps around her neighborhood in order to blow off the excess steam when she got home. Maybe it'd give her time to sort through why she couldn't get those sparkling eyes out of her head, or that majestic smile, or those previously noted 'longer' legs.

As the train pulled into the station, Kyoko grinned, excitedly thinking of something else she could do with Sayaka sometime this week. So distracted was she that she forgot to wait for passengers to get off the train before trying to get on herself. She ended up running in to another woman, one who bounced against the open doors with a quiet 'oomph'.

Kyoko, shaking off her sense of déjà vu from the day at the hosptial, moved to apologize, only for the dark haired girl to ignore her and continue on her walk, slogging forward as though she were walking through a swamp.

The redhead shrugged, figuring that if they wanted an apology they could have asked, and let the other woman go. As frazzled as the raven girl looked, she wasn't Kyoko's concern.

When the doors finally closed, her thoughts drifted back to that silky head of blue hair and the new friend she was eager to see again soon.

O/o\O

~Afterwards~

Ah yes, one of the happier little accidents in this series, since the only reason this was made was that Kyoko needed a proper reintroduction and her friendship with Sayaka needed establishing. And from that, came all of this. I'm actually rather pleased with this particular installment, even if it's maybe a little less streamlined than previous ones. It has a lot going on, from exploring more of the fallout between Madoka/Sayaka/Mami, putting our favorite glutton into the mix, learning her past trials and tribulations, creating strain between her and Sayaka, giving her a dynamic with Madoka, finally showing a form of resolution for what happened back in Spark, and hinting at a rather massive change in the status quo that's about to go down.

I also need to make some corrections. Kindred Pyre takes place not in 2011, but in March of 2015. This again, like Kindred Pyre, takes place in March (and a little bit of April) in 2015. I actually have a full timeline available as a link on my profile, viewable as a Google Spreadsheet! :D

I honestly don't have too much else to say on this, since this is effectively a transitory chapter into the final third of Souls Beyond Time, maybe even the final fourth. We have roughly three installments left to go after this, and I can't wait to get them done… But I'm going to have to, as, as I've ruled for myself, an installment here means I must finish a chapter of my novel first.

A friendly reminder though to all the good people out there that my P-a-t-r-e-o-n is still active and I appreciate any support! Just look up CelticPheonix and you should find me. And yes I know it's misspelled. I fucked up. Sue me.

Also a reminder that commissions are open and will continue to be! I'm always eager to write more for people, so don't be afraid to shoot me a message or an email asking about fandoms, prices and concepts!

That's all for now, catch ya on the flipside!