Metal clashed against metal. A symphony of clattering and the whistle of blades in the wind accompanied the faintest smell of sweat.
That's how I would have wrote out the spar that I'm having with Dez.
A pop from her machine pistol sent her spinning to her right. She converted the centripetal force into a violently swift stab to my dominant shoulder. Thankfully, Thunderstruck's body flung the stab wildly off course.
I tried to punish her overextension, but the kick was met with no resistance whatsoever. She pirouetted around it and made a follow up stab at my fucking head.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, tilting my head to the side. I could feel my last strand of hair in the blade's way get split in half. We had made a deal not to go for either one's head or my... vulnerable anatomy. Aaaaand she literally just took a thrust at my braincase.
"Oh shit, sorry!" Well, at least she had the decency to apologize. She leaped back a good distance and held her estoc down. "I'm sorry, I forgot!" Sighing, I gave a quick roll of my head and flourished Thunderstruck in a spin.
"Ok. Let's continue." Dez and I had been practicing against each other every second day since we got back. On the other days, we did physical training like runs and weights and stuff. Dez has made a huge improvement since I last saw her lift.
Desiree nodded, our signal for being ready. A curt nod back sent her rocketing towards me in a streak of red and a shimmer from her blade. Her lunge was avoided and her follow-up parried.
I assessed my situation. She was setting her next strike up after a feint. Her blade being swung down onto my head but would be stopped short and converted into another thrust after I would open my guard up to block it.
I called her out on her bluff and didn't move in reaction to the overhead swing. Her mouth opened as she pulled her arm back for that thrust, but I slid her legs out from under her with a sweep kick. She fell onto her back immediately and lost the momentum she had been carrying.
I planted Thunderstruck's head under her sword arm and pinned said arm down with my leg.
"You're not thinking," I told her, watching her bright red eyes follow my weapon's lancehead out of the ground. "I get that you forgot about the no-headshots thing, but don't worry about it that much." I say that, but I was the one that didn't want to get stabbed in the fucking face. Dez let out an exasperated exhale and I helped her up to her feet.
"Yeah, I gotcha," she groaned out. Folding her sword away, she grabbed one of the bottles of water on the bench we left our belongings at. I did likewise, stowing Thunderstruck on the metal rack nearby.
We'd ditched our usual attire for more expendable, less restricting gym clothes. By all accounts, we were more flexible and agile.
We caught our breath and I got back up. A flick of my head prompted my twin to do as much as well. Thunderstruck flew back to my hand past Desiree's head. She didn't even flinch.
"C'mon. Two more rounds." My lance was readied in a pumping motion. Dez hopped into place and nodded.
I nodded back and readied to change up my strategy; I was going to attack first.
My sister's weapon disappeared into her red blur. I flexed my arm and aura and felt intense recoil come out from the other side. The equal and opposite reaction gave me an initial burst of speed and it was aimed straight at Desiree's stomach.
"Woah!" I could hear from her surprised expression that I caught her off guard again. I wasn't waiting for my weapon to hit, so I transferred that energy into a wide, chest level swing around.
One of the tips I got from Celeste was to not be afraid of swinging the lance or spear like a staff. What we should be afraid of is swinging it too slow so that it'll open our guard and mess up our stance.
Desiree had to duck underneath the broad attack. I closed out her options with another shot, bringing my arms above my head for a great vertical stab downwards.
She sprang back up and felt the weight of Thunderstruck be parried by a stressed estoc. She vocalised her effort with a yell and Thunderstruck came to a stop against her sword.
What the fuck?
It felt like I was pushing Thunderstruck against a wall, and yet nothing was there. Nothing but Desiree's weapon.
She flung my lance away from her and got to her feet fast. Grabbing the lance yielded with my gloved hand feeling hot. Like feeling a pan on the stove hot. I let my discomfort be known by saying,
"Ah, what the fuck!? That's hot!" And got thrown a good ways from where I was when Hephaestus' Gram hit as hard as a cannon.
My back hit the wall pretty damn hard. A light creeped into what I was seeing, a sound reminiscent of TV static filled my head, and the taste of copper was on my tongue. I got hit so hard I got concussed.
Shaking my head cleared the feeling. I could have fallen forward, but Dez was in front of me and holding me up.
"Ouch, Dee." I got my feet beneath me and was hit with some vertigo. Aura remedied this though.
Dez was bouncing. She was really giddy.
"Gray! Gray! I found my semblance!" She said, sliding across the gym floor like she was skating. "I found it!"
So, like she can skate around? I asked her,
"What do you think it is?"
"It feels like I can... change friction? Or something? Just look!" She then grabbed her bottle and... stuck it to the back of her hand.
Woah.
That's cool.
-XXXXX-
We tested what her semblance's capabilities were at home.
A sheet of sandpaper against another sheet of sandpaper looked effortless to her despite both being rough grit. Her hand against it was likewise effortless.
She even climbed on one of the walls. Cin walked into the room and saw what we were doing and freaked out, but we rectified that.
She used me as a guinea pig and asked me to try to hold her arm. So I wrapped her arm in both of my hands and watched her slip away before falling backwards.
If I had to describe the sensation, it was as if she coated her arms in a dry, nonexistent butter.
When we reversed roles, Dez made the friction coefficient higher for her hands. Her hands felt like they were covered in rubber. Her hands ripped out some of my arm's hairs and legitimately burned my arm.
Aura helped heal it, but the light scar eould be there for a while. Desiree apologized profusely for hurting me, but whatever.
She can manipulate it between herself, and other objects up to a degree of two, so it seems like she can transfer some of her semblance's ability to another object. For example, the fight where she stopped Thunderstruck against Hephaestus' Gram - metal against metal. I put a lot of force into that stab and she only had access to a small surface area. The rest is history.
Oh yeah, Hephaestus' Gram. It's a reference to Hephaestus since he and Dez have some sort of fire motif. Gram because it's a lightweight weapon. I think there was another mythological weapon that had Gram as a name, but my memory betrays me.
Maybe I'll unlock my semblance sometime soon?
I can only hope.
-XXXXX-
Found out today that Katrina lives relatively close to us.
Saw her when Dez and I went to the huntsman gym for sparring when a familiar mane of light purple hair and small, white wolf ears was beating the shit out of a punching bag.
Katrina had picked up the "normal" lance type of fighting. She'd been honing her own unique lance style at the gym.
The day kind of went like this. Dez and I walk in and we see her. Dez goes,
"Hey, is that Kat?" Katrina spins around so fast since she just missed her left hook on the bag. "It is!" Katrina kicks the bag so that it'll stop swinging around and runs to Dee, saying,
"Desiree! What are you doing here?" She says in her calm, modest voice. They hug and they start talking more and then I come up.
"Kat, you remember Gray, right?" She flicks her head to me and continues, "Gainsboro?" Katrina acknowledges me and says,
"Of course I remember him! Mr. Himura won't shut up about how Mr. Sonnati won't shut up about his only student!" She turns to me and goes, "How's your lance?"
Aaaand then we start talking about our weapons. Hers is a broadheaded spear that fires out its head at people. The spearhead's connected to a chain that pulls it back. She keeps a common rifle with her for longer engagements, but her spear, Hellion Bloom, is her go-to.
She thought that Thunderstruck was genius and that the firing action was a brilliant idea, which made me feel nice. Kat even wanted to try it out, so I gave her the gloves (which were just slightly too big for her) and watched her impeccable balance get all malformed by a single gunshot from Thunderstruck.
Desiree had a good laugh. And then she offered to have us spar.
I almost won against Kat if I hadn't tried to stomp on her. She tripped from me placing the haft of my lance behind her foot as she was caught resetting from one of her missed attacks.
I tried to plant my foot on her midsection to keep her down, but she parried my foot.
She parried my foot away from her and threw my balance out.
First off, I'm not making that mistake again. She has aura. She could've taken it.
That being said, she countered me hard. My leg was pulled over my back. Needless to say, but I tapped out.
I should have started with my weapon, but hindsight is invariably 20/20.
But yeah. That was our first encounter with her. She doesn't live near us, per se. She lives close to the gym that Dez and I run to every other day. Which is a few miles.
Thankfully, there are bike lanes that also happen to double as jogging routes. Average mile time for a trained huntsman is more or less three and a half minutes and we're getting close to that.
I like her company. She's nice and pretty knowledgeable. She's also easy on the eyes.
Those wolf ears are a plus too.
Dez seems to like her, so I don't think she would mind having her around more when we train.
Things to consider.
-XXXXX-
"The youngest Slate sibling is probably gonna get kicked out. He hasn't worked out since we got out," Kat predicted. She lives next to the Slate family, a veritable dynasty that has produced some of the greatest huntsmen. Shale Slate, on the other hand, has a lowsy work ethic and a pathetic drive. He's a kind kid, but far too naïve to be a huntsman.
"Shale? Yeah. He's pretty lazy and doesn't push for anything, ya know?" I add, jumping over Hellion Bloom's spearhead as it snaked out at my legs. I set my foot down on its chain extra hard so as to use the tension to pull Katrina in. Didn't work.
"What was his cousin's name? Gab..." Desiree asked, watching our spar.
"Gabbro? Gabby Gneiss?" Katrina asked, letting her spear go and swinging her leg up for an axe kick. "She's doing better than him, but not by much." The thick metal barrel of Thunderstruck stopped her heel from crashing into my head. "Damn!"
I jumped off of the leg behind me, forcing Kat to flip backwards. Her acrobatics, while impressive, were the only option open to her once she threw that failed kick.
As she was coming to a stable standing position, I thrust Thunderstruck squarely to the side of her head. It stopped mere inches from her cheek.
Oh yeah. I fired Thunderstruck too. It nearly flew out of my hands, though I had used the attractors to keep it where it was.
Katrina's hair settled around her face and her wolf ears turned to me. Her eyes widened and flicked to the threat.
"I thought you said no head-"
"I wasn't aiming for your head." I smirked. Her eyes narrowed nonplussed and she shook her head, brushing it against the blade of my weapon.
"Oh, whatever. Five to four." Her concession closed out our tie in my favor, fortunately.
We all sat at the bench closest to the "ring" where we sparred. Kat and I caught our breath while Dez checked her scroll.
"G, Mom wants us home. We're having guests." Uhh... Alright. That was fast.
"So soon? You guys got here like half an hour ago!" Kat whined.
"Yeah... Sorry Kat," Dez apologized. She grabbed her bag and hugged Kat, who then went over to me for a hug.
I obliged, but only used one arm. And then we left.
Anyway, our route back home had no bikers at this time.
"Let's go?" She prompts. Her watch is ready to begin timing us.
"On you." The tone from the watch loosed Dez like an arrow. I sprinted to catch up, using my longer strides to even out the speed. No words were exchanged, but it has become a race.
This had been taking over our return trips since it made us competitive. It pushed our limits. It was also kinda fun in a sibling rivalry way.
Every fourth stride for me both equaled six of my sister's and alternated between exhale and inhale. Things you notice when you've raced your shorter sister a couple dozen times.
We'd tie often because of the advantages and disadvantages we both had. I had longer legs by virtue of being taller than her and could manage my stamina better because of it. However, she was a natural sprinter and had less air resistance from her smaller frame.
The wind was the deciding factor for today. Too much of it worked too hard against me.
I swear to the gods, I wasn't copping out. I mean I was tired but it's not like I didn't want to push myself.
Okay, maybe a little.
-XXXXX-
"Hurry up and clean yourselves up. Your uncle Rhodi and cousin Gardenia is coming over," Dad told us. He has two brothers, Rhodi and Jet, and a sister, Indi.
Rhodi and Indi are the oldest and youngest respectively, with Jet being the second oldest and Grey, our dad, being the second youngest.
Rhodi's daughter, Gardenia, is a freelance huntress working in... I think it was Anima? Near Mistral academy? I'll admit, it was a while ago, bordering about three years when we last heard about her. That was when she graduated from Mistral. She had gotten married.
That was the subject for the visit. They were going to move near us with Rhodi coming along just to see the surrounding area.
Dad was upset about not knowing earlier that he was going to drop by, but otherwise was clearly elated.
"You two should get your armor and weapons on to show your cousin. I think she'll be pleased." With that, we washed up and got dressed.
I pulled the bolt back on rifle Thunderstruck. An empty mag loaded no live round and an oiled action caused no malfunctions.
Dez polished her sword's blade. It gleamed a brilliant luster in the light of our bedroom.
Then Dad called out to Cin.
"Cinna! Can you make some of those pancakes you're good at making?" She called back out,
"Yeah, but we need eggs. Can I take Dez or Junior with me?" She asked, opening Dez and I's bedroom door up. She knew the answer to her question.
"Sure."
And then she looked. At this point, I had just strapped my armor on while Dez was tightening hers. So, of course, I was the Chosen One.
"Junior! You're the Chosen One! We need to get eggs for pancakes." I sighed but resigned myself to pack mule.
"Fine," I barely even vocalised. Thunderstruck stuck to the back of my belt like a magnet when we left.
It was a short drive to the closest supermarket that provided us with the chicken produce plus other ingredients. We got extra syrup and other such components which were of no consequence aside from the price.
Throughout this whole ordeal I kept spotting some character looking towards me. I began to grow suspicious.
Cin and I lined up at checkout. Throwing a look over my shoulder, I could see the figure's long black hair disappear behind the aisle's shelving. I told Cinna that I'll be back promptly and pursued.
I had just rounded the corner when I saw the same thing before I began my pursuit: long black hair followong somebody around the aisle's corner. I sighed internally somehow and kept going.
It was only a matter of time before I was able to catch a better glimpse at the suspect. The girl made me look like an idiot, chasing her around a supermarket, but I called out to her to save at least a little face.
"Hey! Why are you following me?" By this time, Cinna was already out the supermarket and in her car waiting. So she didn't know that I was currently chasing some random person around the market. Changing my pace from a brisk walk to a low jog, I finally caught up to the girl who looked to be about my age. She had led me to the employee side of the supermarket into the warehouse. My suspicion grew wary.
An aggressive pair of shouts echoed in between the rows of store material. Thunderstruck was in my hands in a flash and being forced out of my hands by a bladed gauntlet and heel. Two pairs of striking green orbs set into eyes deadset to fight.
I tore Thunderstruck back from the two girls and readied myself. One of the girls was wearing a black blouse with red frills and a red thigh length skirt. Her arms were covered in black and red striped arm warmers with long metal claws. Her long black hair matched her black knee highs and sneakers. In her hair was a long feather-styled hairpin.
The other one wore a white blouse with light blue frills. Her thigh length skirt was likewise light blue. Her arms were bare sans a corsage on her left wrist. Her hair reached her lower back like the other girl's and had a flower hairpin in it. Her thigh-high boots were white and she walked on their bladed heels.
I've seen these girls before but I was drawing a blank. Whatever the case, I was fighting them now.
Both of them stood close to each other, likely since they fought in tandem. Interesting, but inefficient. They cover each other's weaknesses but don't augment their strengths.
Since they fight together, I need to fight them separately.
The red one jumped up for a flying punch that was telegraphed enough for me to block, but too fast for me to see the white one slide underneath her to kick my shins.
The attack pushed me toward the wall behind me.
Okay, not gonna let that happen again. Deciding against grappling the kicky one, I loosed Thunderstruck lightly behind the punchy one. The clanging did little to distract them, but that wasn't the point.
I made a beeline straight for the girl in red and pulled Thunderstruck in. She was taken unawares by the lance shoving her into me, who then spun her around and wrapped her in a full nelson hold, her arms inaccessible.
"Miltia!" cried the other one. I put the red girl between the white girl and started asking questions.
"Why are you following me?" Miltia bared her teeth and kicked me in the groin. Aura saved me the damage and I tightened my grip around her, but not before wincing. "Why are you following me?!" A subtle pain rose through ny abdomen.
"You were following us!" Miltia bluffed, struggling in my clasp. "Let me go!"
"Bullshit! You were following me!" The girl in white stood patiently, waiting for me to slip up. So I reinforced myself with even more aura. Thunderstruck flew to my hand to punctuate my determination. "I'm a huntsman-in-training, so you better tell me right fucking now!"
And for once, I understood the authority huntsmen carried with them. A tense silence fell upon the three of us as the white one blinked twice and stood down. The one called Miltia still wriggled around, but it was more out of discomfort than a fighting instinct.
"No weapons," I demanded. A pair of blades were detached from a pair of heels. Guess she's being honest enough. Letting Miltia go, I gave her a light shove to what I now assume was her sister, looking at their resemblance. She threw a glance over her shoulder, but didn't act on her anger or whatever that emotion was. Her sister pulled her in.
"Are you alright?" she asked, petting her sister. I swept her bladed heels away as Miltia unbuckled her gauntlets and dropped them too. "Ugh, Junior told us nothing about this guy." Flinging the gauntlets behind me, I resumed questioning.
"Okay now that you know what you got yourselves into, why were you following me?" The two girls clung to each other closely and gradually sunk to the floor to sit. I sighed at their silence but knew they had no other choice than to reply. "You're in a bad spot right now, so just answer me already." I massaged my head to nurse the headache from the adrenaline withdrawal.
They looked at each other, trembling, and gave me this answer in unison:
"Somebody contracted us to." A slight bit creepy but that's aside the point.
"Who?" I asked. This is all kinds of bad. Have I been found out?
"We don't know. Our employer just gave us the folder." I squinted at that. So it wasn't quite anonymous, but there was a level of confidentiality in it.
"Your employer, who is he? What do you two do for him?" There was a small chance that they were contract killers. Their skill, or lack thereof, contradicted that.
The girls glanced at each other yet again. A variety of expressions fluttered across their faces before Miltia nodded.
"He is an... informant. We simply gather information for him." I hummed. Informant? That sounds like a good place to start.
"Say, perhaps, I want to contact him about this... How would one go around to doing that?" Well I definitely confused them. They stared at me with countenances of complete astonishment. First I overpower and have them surrender, next I express a desire to buy their employer's services. They were shrewd in the dissemination of information. Props to them.
"How do we know that you aren't just planning to rat him out?" red asked.
"Well I haven't reported you two just yet for harrassment and assault, have I?" Pulling out my scroll prompted them to bristle in fear. "Now, I'm sure at least one of you has a scroll. Would you be so kind as to give me a point of contact?" The two were so unbelievably bewildered but complied nonetheless. I added their numbers but paused because I didn't get their names. "What are your names?" They were wise in hesitation and practical in answering.
"Melanie," said the white clad one.
"Miltiades," said the red dressed girl.
"Malachite," they finished in one voice.
Uhh... Okay?
"I'll keep in touch." With that, I pardoned myself from their company and ghosted them. I went the way I came into the warehouse. Some bagger or cashier saw me in a place where I wasn't supposed to be but didn't do anything past step out of my way. I was out the store in record time.
I buckled into Cinna's car as she was busy playing around with her scroll.
"What took you so long?" she asked, putting her device away and shifting gears.
"I had to use the restroom. Let's-"
"You're bleeding!"
"What?" Sure enough, the hand I used to massage my head had a thin line of blood, as did my left forehead. When was this?
"Oh, I was messing around with Thunderstruck in the restroom after I finished. Don't worry about it." Aura mended the damage done to me in a second.
I opened up my scroll and saw a fresh set of messages. One from Dad, 'You guys done yet?' and one from each of the Malachites, 'Yes, we're twins.'
I put both of them in a group chat with me.
'How much do you know about me?'
'ur name, ur moms and dads, and now that ur a junior huntsman' Melanie speedily replied.
"Who are you texting?" Cin asked, peering over my hand.
"Some friends from Signal." I put that away and pulled my scroll further away from elder's gaze. She pouted but focused on the road again.
'Why are you still answering my questions?'
'Because you have enough information about us to get us arrested.' Miltia answered politely. 'You have us in a bad spot, but we're your only way to our manager.'
'I see.' I sent.
'hes not gonna be happy, mil'
'I'm sure, Mel.'
'Okay, well good luck to telling him you were compromised, ladies.' Smug was a large part of that parting message.
And the ride home was over. I helped bring in the, like, two groceries and Cinna basically ran into the kitchen to make some breakfast cakes.
It wasnt even ten minutes later that the doorbell rang.
"Little G!" yelled a voice not dissimilar from my dad's though heartier and deeper. I reacted to the name shared by my dad and me and went to the door to answer it. Protocol came second nature to me.
"Who is it?" Basic precautions to take when allowing one to enter. The intercom must have betrayed the difference's and my voice and my dad's voice, because Uncle Rhodi told me,
"It's Rhodi! And Little Gardenia! Come on now, Grey." The entrance was unlocked and opened. Dad came into the doorway's hallway, but not before Uncle Rhodi saw me behind the other side of the door. "Is that... Junior?"
"Hi Uncle Rhodi," I managed to squeeze out of my lungs as he squeezed me in a bear hug. He dwarfed me in both height and width. "Hi Gardenia."
His daughter did the same to my height. She stood a whole head taller than me.
"Dad you're crushing him."
"Yeah, Rhodes. Gainsboro looks like he wants to tap out." The two brothers greeted each other gratefully. "How's Chloe?"
"Oh, she's fine. Just holding down the store while we're here." He said. "Where's Carmen? Carmine?"
"It's Carmine, you fat pig," Dad jabbed in good spirits. "She's here. Cinna's cooking something up and Desiree is..." Dad looked over to me. I shrugged. He finished, "in her room. Come on, let's talk. Junior, take Gardenia to your room for now."
"Just over here." I did as instructed and led her to my room. Dez was still in there, handloading ammunition for Hephaestus' Gram.
"Hey Gardenia." I pulled my chair out from my desk to offer to her. She took it graciously.
"Wow, you two have grown," our cousin marveled. "So I hear you two are going the huntsman route?" Gardenia's weapons, a heater shield and a claymore, were placed in her lap. The shield contained the sword's scabbard and currently the sword itself.
Gardenia held the shield parallel to the ground and tugged the hilt of her claymore towards the floor. The shield folded around the sword and the blade revealed a thick barrel.
Her combination weapon was a shotgun with a face shield. A quick pump told us that she didn't expect any Ikenemies in this trip.
Which is a good thing I guess.
"Yup!" Desiree stood up from her desk finished with her loading and sat cross-legged on the floor. She pushed against the wall and started sliding around, pushing against the walls she came close to colliding with.
"That's her semblance. Something like friction manipulation." Before Gardenia could even think about asking me, I added, "I don't know mine yet."
"Let me see your weapons."
And a good part of an hour went that way. Since Her fighting style was drastically different from Desiree's, she would only be able to offer limited advice. Gardenia's style and my style didn't mesh at all, unfortunately.
But that was to be expected.
As she inspected my instrument, I asked for hers. She obliged, and I got my hands on a shielded-shotgun.
It was front-heavy but had a handguard around the pump, likely another part of the shield. I pulled the grip of the shotgun to align with the rest of the gun and it all unfolded back into the sword and shield.
Emblazoned on the front of the gray shield was an olive drab fleur de lis. Inboard on the fleur de lis was a white stylized 'A,' made to look like a drawn bow.
"What's this? Your emblem?" I asked, tracing it gently with my finger. On her shoulder was a patch that had a highly stylized flower emblem.
"No, that's our family crest." Pointing out her patch, she said, "This is my emblem." Immediately, I broke out my scroll and snapped a picture.
"Oh, okay. Thanks."
The rest of the day involved her asking us numerous questions about numerous subjects. We gave her answers to the best of our ability, and that proved satisfactory. She gave off an impression of being sad or guilty, but I pushed that away. She probably just missed her husband or fiancée or whatever he was to her.
Dad, Mom, and Uncle Rhodi summoned her and they had a good talk and pancakes and then Rhodi and Gardenia were out the door.
It didn't matter much to me. I got to work right away on emblems.
"What are you doing?" Dez asked as I sketched out the framework for an insignia. I waved my scroll, signalling to her that I sent the image to her. "The family crest? I mean, we could use that, but we aren't Schnees."
"Yeah. I'm basing my emblem around it though." I shook my head and crumpled up the paper. A lightning bolt doesn't work so well with it.
Desiree looked at the crest and murmured softly to herself. She grabbed a sheet of grid paper and began on her emblem, finishing it in record time.
"What do you think about this?" Her fleur was encircled by a pseudo-triangular shape. I realized then that it was the SDC label for fire dust.
I eould have done the same but the label for electric dust is literally just a lightning bolt again.
I gave it some time. Desiree folded up her paper to commission it from a professional artist to submit to Signal's offices.
Clouds? Nope.
My twin came back to my desk.
"Nothing yet?"
"No."
"Do you want me to draw something up for you?" Peering over my shoulder put my face to face with her. Her expression was warm aand hospitable and her words were sincere.
I bit my lip in consideration.
"Might as well. Thanks, Dee."
She was at her desk doodling in a second. By the time I cleaned up my desk and went to hers, she had completed.
That was fucking fast.
Her emblem for me was like this: a circle with portions hollowed to create an inward spiral. In the middle of it all was the fleur de lis and 'A.'
For some impossibly uncertain reason, the emblem resonated with me. It felt like I had an intimate and clearly distinguishable connection to it. I loved it.
"That looks great!" I said, grabbing the paper. Desiree looked increasingly happy with herself for every second I peered at her drawing. "Thanks again Dee. Let's contact an emblemist?"
"Hell yeah. Let's."
-XXXXX-
(A/N: Hey! Rico here.
Thanks to all of you guys! I never expected to get to 100 follows and over 60 favorites! It means a lot to me, really and truly!
Thank you for reading! Happy Easter and as always,
Cheers, Rico.)