[CW] Lexi's Thread of Short Writerings

[Shamitako]

So hey, whilst my larger projects sit doing nothing, I thought I'd make a thread where I can drop poetry and short stories and stuff. IDK how often I'll add to this, but hopefully there will be at least a short poem once a month. I may or may not add some notes after each entry. Also, expect a decent amount of yupoe

Homura (Flame) [Poem]

(A) Burning flame, the first act.

( Hope to open a heart so cold.

( To be together and grow old.

© Love is such a strong emotion.

(A) Searing pain, an agonizing fact.

(D) ‘Twas not hope but aimless luck.

(D) Could not save us when tragedy struck.

© Hope is such a pointless notion.

(A) Smoldering loss, the soul’s contract.

(E) Ashes of perfection gone forever.

(E) Lost unto my heart’s endeavor

© Emptiness is such a cold ocean

Haven't settled on a title for this yet, I'll add it when I come up with it. In case you're not familiar with poetry, the letters denote the rhyme scheme, I added them in after I wrote the first stanza and a half to help me round out the poem and left them in because I think details like that are interesting

Anyways, this poem actually has two meanings. I won't state what either is, the ones who are supposed to know will be able to tell

Empty [Poem]

Empty

Cold, lonely

Dark, black, scared

Sadness

Lifeless, blank, lost

Painful, angry

Empty

The Tales of Aer and Zoe [short Stories]

The Gift

For as long as Aer could remember, the existence of the Gifted had been a topic of constant debate. Much like in movies and books, there were those who feared them and those who pitied them, yet nobody treated them as human. He was among the fearing, and with good reason. His uncle had become Gifted, part of a Matched pair. The man had killed his wife, the other member of the Match, to gain the full of his power. Aer's little cousin--scarce more than three at the time--had thankfully been staying with his family that evening, but his uncle came to get her. He took Aer's father's arm and and his mother's voice before the police managed to stop him. Neither Aer's cousin, his twin sister, nor Aer himself saw, but it still haunted them for years after...

~~~

Aer couldn't sleep, every time he shut his eyes the thunder would clap. He turned his head to his right to check on Zoe. Her face remained contorted in fear, but her breath was still with sleep. She had come to him whimpering, as she did with every storm, and asked if she could hold him for comfort. Aer of course had said yes, and thus she now clung to his right arm like a life preserver. It had been a night just like this when- No, he daren't think of it. He was 17 now, it have been a whole seven years, he should have been over it by then. But he knew in his heart he wouldn't be over it any time soon.

"Aer?" A small voice said, interrupting his thoughts.

He didn't need to look, it was clearly his adopted sister Marina, their late uncle's daughter.

"Go ahead." He said, knowing exactly what she would ask.

A warm presence settled itself on his left, clutching his arm. If it stormed too much more that week, he wouldn't have any feeling left in his arms. Being a big brother to two frightful girls was hard. At least he didn't have to be alone through these nightmares. He tried once more to shut his eyes, focusing on the warmth beside him.

Crack

Aer's eyes shot open once more. It was no use, he wasn't a strong older brother giving hope to his sisters, he was a scared child huddling with other scared children in desperation. He laid there awake until his eyelids could no longer support their own weight and he drifted off into a rough slumber.

"Onii-chan! Wake up onii-chan!" Zoe said, shaking Aer awake.

"I told you not to call me that." He groaned.

"Aww, but it's fun." She pouted.

There wasn't really any point to arguing with her this early, so Aer decided to drop the subject.

"Where's Marina?" He asked, forcing his eyes open.

"She's downstairs having breakfast with mom. You better hurry, we're leaving for school in ten minutes."

"I don't want to go." Aer said, sitting up anyways.

Zoe was bouncing up and down on the edge of the bed like an excited puppy dog. Her short blonde hair was flying all over the place as her body shook and her lips were spread in a cheerful smile. In other words it was a normal morning for her. Sometimes he wondered how a pair of twins could look so similar but be so different. In the mornings his blue eyes were dull with grogginess, but hers were nearly as sparkly as the anime she was constantly watching.

"How are you so energetic after last night anyways?" He asked.

Her faced turned a deep red, her smile dissipated, and she stopped bouncing. This would have drawn a curious look from Aer if he were awake enough to move his facial muscles.

"No reason, this is how I always am." She said nervously, "Anyways, I need to eat too, hurry up and get ready."

He didn't get it at all. For whatever reason she had been acting like this more and more. He'd say something perfectly normal and she'd go all red and run off. It was like he was catching her doing something wrong, except he had no idea what wrong thing she was doing.

After hopping in the shower for two minutes and throwing on a change of clothes, Aer made his way downstairs. His mother and little sister sat at the kitchen table, eating cereal. Zoe was in the living room, he peeked in on her to see her watching one of her anime, eating toast, and brushing her hair. He had to give her credit for being good at multitasking.

"Hey mom, how long until we leave?" He asked as he re-entered the kitchen.

She signed back, 'Fifteen.'

As usual Zoe had been exaggerating how little time he had to get ready. No big deal, he could use every second with how slowly he woke up. He tossed some leftovers in the microwave and cleared some dirty dishes from the table to make room for himself. He also made a mental note to remind Zoe that dishes were her chore this week, not that she'd listen.

His mother waved his attention and started signing, 'Today is the Gifted safety course. Make sure Zoe pays attention.'

'Thanks for reminding me, I will.' He signed back.

His mother's face was deathly serious and Aer was sure his face had a matching expression. Many people treated the safety courses like a joke, but not his family. Zoe was easily distracted, but it rarely took much for him to coax her into paying attention to this specific lecture.

The morning went by normally. Aer slept through homeroom, he had made a bargain with Mrs. Delaney so he could get away with that. He paid attention in math and english, doodled in social studies, and sat with his girlfriend Emily at lunch. Normally the afternoon would consist of his chemistry course and electives, but because of the safety lecture those were canceled. After the lecture there would be some small group activities and then he would go home about an hour early. He finished eating, said his farewell to Emm and went to fetch Zoe. As they made their way to the lecture hall they were stopped by a guy from Zoe's homeroom named Carter. Carter was a decidedly vile being, as his first words to the pair proved undoubtedly.

"Hey girls what's up." He said, winking perversely.

"Carter." They both responded in unison.

"Wow, you two are like, exactly alike." Carter said, sounding genuinely in awe, "Same hair, same eyes, same voice, same clothes. I wouldn't be able to tell you apart if it weren't for those."

Of course it was too good to be true, just buildup for an excuse to mention Zoe's breasts.

"Could you please just get out of the way? We'll be late for the lecture." Aer said.

"Oh come on now babe, don't be like that." Carter responded, reaching out and poking Aer in the chest.

And that was when Aer looked down. His eyes went wide and he turned to Zoe, their shared expressions of surprise clearly apparent.

"Zoe, baby, you alright there?" Carter asked, clearly confused.

Normally Zoe would have dropkicked him by now, he was a glutton for punishment, Aer was sure he got off on it. But Zoe wasn't Zoe, or at least Zoe wasn't the one Carter thought was Zoe.

"E-excuse us." Zoe said, shoving Carter aside and dragging Aer down the hall.

"It's, uh, really cramped in here." Aer said as Zoe shut the door of the closet.

"Yes, but it's the only place I could think of on short notice." She said.

Zoe shifted uncomfortably and fiddled with her pants. Aer gave her a puzzled look, he had never known her to have issues with her clothing, she was meticulous with selecting the perfect fit.

"Okay, it's not morning anymore, you're not allowed to be that slow." Zoe said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"What, I don't... Oh, OH." Aer said, "You mean... WAIT DOES THAT MEAN I-"

Aer reached down to find his fears confirmed. A look of shock and terror spread across his face.

"Be quiet, baka." Zoe whispered furiously.

"This isn't the time for your weeb shit, my-"

"Oh hell no." Zoe cut him off, "You are not saying that out loud."

"Well what else am I supposed to say?" Aer was sounding more and more panicked, "And how did this happen? Did we swap minds somehow?"

"I don't know how, but I don't think that's what happened, you're not wearing my clothes."

"How can you tell?"

"Because you don't have a bra on."

"..."

"Aer, you okay?"

"Kill me now."

After some shenanigans involving underclothing the pair made their way to the lecture hall for the safety lecture. Their unique predicament managed to fade to the back of their minds to make room for the one thing neither could avoid paying attention to.

"Alright, welcome all." The vice principle, Mr. Davidson, said, his deep voice carrying throughout the room.

"Yes, welcome." Followed the principle, Ms. Wellspring, meekly over the mic system.

"We have a special speaker today, the renowned Mr. Arthur Delaney." Mr. Davidson continued, "Those of you in Mrs. Delaney's class will probably recognize him as he is indeed her husband. Please give him your full attention."

A man in a labcoat walked onto the stage and the principle and vice principle made their way down.

"Ms. Wellspring was quiet again." Zoe said, giggling.

"Shh, pay attention." Aer scolded.

Zoe fixed her attention on the stage without another word. Aer followed suit, taking in Mr. Delaney's appearance. The man was tall and lanky. His greyed curls were receding slowly and he had the makings of a beard. Basically he looked old, yet his composure made him seem very lively.

"This first part will probably sound repetitive to most of you but I'll be covering it just in case. If you've been to one of these lectures before then this is the part you can sleep through." Mr. Delaney began, getting a round of laughter from the students, "As you well know, there are those among us called the Gifted, humans who have been granted supernatural powers via currently unknown means. The Gifted always come in pairs, with some interaction between the members of the pair being required to give them the full strength of their ability. An Alternate pair requires one of the members to find a way to nullify the other's ability with their own. There's very little information on how the Gift knows this event has occurred but once it has the successful member of the pair will gain full strength and the other member's ability will be halved, or very rarely removed entirely. A Matched pair requires one of the pair to kill the other, those in this pairing are often already inclined to harm others in one way or another and the Gift gives them a motive, very dangerous. Finally, there is a third kind of pairing that was recently discovered which we have dubbed a Conjoined pair, as it only occurs in twins. We don't really know much outside that the ability only works if both twins use it in conjunction..."

Aer's eyes widened and the lecture faded out of his perception. Twins, he and Zoe were twins. They were twins and something very strange had happened to them. He knew he had to check and there was only one real way to do that.

He touched Zoe on the shoulder and signed to her, 'Think about having breasts.'

She gave him a confused look and mouthed, "Why?" but also signed, 'Okay.'

'You'll see.' Aer replied, and began to think about having his manhood back.

Almost instantly, he knew it had worked, he felt relieved, and also very worried.

'Zoe, I think we might be some of those twin Gifted he mentioned.' He signed.

'How about we worry about that after you give me my bra back?'

"..."

'Aer?'

'This is my life now, isn't it?'

End

The World

Aer hadn't slept at all the night after the lecture. The morning after was an interesting one as well. Marina had spilled her orange juice literally all over the kitchen while his mom was still asleep and he had accidentally put rice in his bowl instead of cereal. After cleaning both messes up he headed up to his room too think. When Zoe showed up at his door he was laying on his bed trying to clear his mind. Of course she didn't help him with that any.

"Give me some of your underwear." She demanded.

"What?" He responded, dumbfounded.

"I need your underwear in case we swap again." She explained.

"But we figured out how to swap back." Aer pleaded.

"Why do you sound so worried? If you want I can give you a bra in return..."

"Please no."

"Actually, that's a good idea, I don't want people thinking I run around without one."

"Sigh, fine, just take them and get out."

Aer pointed to the drawer on his dresser that housed his unmentionables. Zoe happily skipped over and opened it, proceeding to bust out laughing immediately after.

"Oh my gosh are these penguins?" She said between guffaws.

"...There's also dogs and pigs." Aer replied, "Please just take a couple pairs and get out."

Zoe complied, but he could still hear her laughing like a madwoman for ten minutes after.'

Aer finally managed to get his shuteye during homeroom, he would have to remember to thank Mrs. Delaney doubly for allowing him to do so that afternoon. The day flew by without much happening, Emm was out sick so he ate lunch alone. He walked with Zoe to her anime club before heading back to his homeroom to help Mrs. Delaney.

"Hey Mrs. Delaney, what should I do today?" He asked as he entered the room.

"I have a lot of grading to do, so can you help me prepare tomorrow's homework assignments? I've got them ready I just need you to print them out for me." Mrs. Delaney replied.

"Alright, can do."

Aer start to walk out the door but paused a moment before turning back around.

"Did you need something else?" Mrs. Delaney asked.

"Do you think... Do you think I could come over for dinner tonight? I'd like to ask Mr. Delaney about the Gifted."

"Of course." Mrs. Delaney said cheerfully, "You're always welcome. And I'm sure Malcolm will be excited to see a youth so interested in his work. Will it be just you, or would you like to have Zoe along?"

"Just me, I don't think Zoe wants to hear any more about the Gifted..."

Mrs. Delaney nodded knowingly, "Understandable. Oh, but do have her send some of those lovely rice balls she makes."

"I'll see if I can get her away from a screen long enough." Aer answered, laughing.

Later that evening Aer stood at the Delaney's door holding a large plastic container. He rang the bell and got a muffled yell in reply.

"Sorry about that, I was just finishing up dinner." Mrs. Delaney said as she opened the door a moment later, "Do come in."

"It's no problem." Aer answered as he stepped through the door, "I have an apology of my own, couldn't get rice balls out of Zoe. But I did manage to bake some cookies for dessert."

"Ah, lovely."

Aer had been to the Delaney's many times, usually with his whole family. Mr. Delaney had been the one to deal with his parents most after the incident and it was no coincidence that Aer was in his wife's class at school. But something felt different about the atmosphere tonight, the foyer felt chilly. Was it because of his becoming a Gifted?

"Something wrong dear?" Mrs. Delaney said, snapping him into reality.

"Oh, sorry, just thinking." Aer replied, "How about we get right to eating, I'm sure spending all that time cooking must have you hungry."

She laughed, "I can't deny it."

Mr. Delaney was already at the table, and Aer saw him quickly duck behind the newspaper he had when his wife entered the room. Knowing him, he had snitched some of the fresh vegetables Mrs. Delaney had set out.

"You can set the cookies on the counter, Aer." Mrs. Delaney said, not noticing her husband's antics.

"Cookies?" Mr. Delaney said, perking up.

"Yes, Aer baked them for dessert." She replied forcefully.

"Well then let's get through dinner quickly." Mr. Delaney chuckled.

Aer took a moment to interject himself into the conversation, "Hello Mr. Delaney." He said.

"Evening Aer, I hear you're interested in my research?"

"Yes, that's the main reason why I'm here."

"Well I'm afraid I can't tell you much, at least not as much as some of my colleagues, especially Thomas."

"You mean Dr. Stanford, right?" Aer asked.

"Indeed, Thomas is the one who really does the work, I just catalogue things and talk to people for him really."

Dr. Stanford was the head researcher at the lab Mr. Delaney worked at. He was one of the top scientists in his field, and easily the top in the States. He was also well funded by the government, although Aer had heard often from Mr. Delaney that he would have preferred private funding. Mr. Delaney was more or less his secretary, but really it seemed like the two were a single unit. Aer was certain Mr. Delaney would know just as much about the practical effects of the Gifted as Dr. Stanford, even if he didn't necessarily know every detail.

"Oh don't demean yourself honey." Mrs. Delaney said, "You may not be as well versed as Thomas, but you're certainly vital to his research. He's far too antisocial to get by without you."

"Hah! Too true." Mr. Delaney laughed.

"Anyways, the ham is ready, shall we eat?"

"Definitely." Aer and Mr. Delaney responded in sync.

After dinner Aer and Mr. Delaney retired to the basement, where Mr. Delaney had his study.

"Have a seat, Aer." Mr. Delaney said, indicating a pair of comfortable looking recliners in the corner.

Aer sat down and Mr. Delaney took his seat in the other. The room was weirdly messy compared to the rest of the house, indicating to Aer that Mrs. Delaney had no reign in it.

"So what did you want to hear about?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, I kinda wanted to hear about those twin Gifted you mentioned."

"As I guessed, that's probably why Zoe isn't here, right?"

"Yeah..." Aer shifted nervously.

"Well to be perfectly honest, I don't know all that much. Thomas has only had two pairs to research, although I've heard the lab in the EU has run into at least three. If you'd like I can contact you after I get confirmation from them."

"That would be nice, actually. But as for right now I'd really just like to know what makes them different from other Gifted."

"Well, outside the obvious twin part, Conjoined pairs don't seem especially different at first glance."

"At first glance?" Aer raised his eyebrow.

"Nothing gets by you I see." Mr. Delaney smiled, "Yes, Thomas has an interesting theory based on the pair of Conjoined Gifted he's been able to research. He thinks that they may not actually be separate beings, at least not entirely. Both pairs we've had possessed abilities that required them to act as a single unit. In fact the first known pair were actually literally conjoined, a pair of Egyptian girls who were only able to separate from each other under the influence of their Gift."

"Wait, so does that mean that they're actually Gifted from birth?"

"As best we can tell, yes. Although their Gifts only seem to manifest during their mid to late teens."

So, it was possible that he and Zoe were actually somehow sharing bodies? It seemed insane, but he couldn't deny that their Gift made it seem perfectly plausible.

"So, I'm probably being paranoid, but..."

"If you and Zoe turned out to be Gifted I'd have to take you into government custody."

"Right."

"Of course since neither of you has shown any sign of harming other humans and so long as your Gift wasn't inherently volatile you'd be treated well. But... I can't deny that under current conditions 'well' is still less than human."

"That's, honestly terrifying to think about."

"It is." Mr. Delaney grimaced, "Let me speak to you as a friend and not a government employee for a moment. If you and Zoe were to be Conjoined Gifted, I wouldn't want you to tell me. As much as Thomas and I want to learn more about the Gifted, neither of us is happy with how the government treats them, especially when they haven't done anything that could cause us to consider them less than human. However, I swear that if you were to turn yourself in, when you were at the research center you would be treated with equal respect as any of the research staff, if not equal rights."

Aer looked at the pained look on Mr. Delaney's face and could tell something was up. As worried as he was for himself and his sister, he was also worried about the man before him.

"Did, something happen?" He asked.

"Nothing I'm allowed to tell you." Mr. Delaney confirmed."

"One more question then."

Mr. Delaney nodded.

"These twin Gifted that you've researched, what happened to them?"

"One pair's whereabouts are classified. The other pair are dead."

Aer paled. He had been expecting an answer like that, but he hadn't been prepared.

"There is one person you can talk to." Mr. Delaney said, "Principal Wellspring."

The way he said it told Aer that he knew exactly what was going on with Aer and Zoe. And Aer was honestly surprised he was being let free. Mr. Delaney was a nice man, but he could be in serious trouble if anyone ever found out about this.

"Mrs. Wellspring, why?"

"Because you go to a private school, she has no obligation to turn you in if you don't cause any trouble."

Although something told Aer there was more to it than that. He was about to say more when Mr. Delaney stood up, cutting the conversation off.

"Now then, it's getting late, you should probably be heading home."

"Right." Aer said, rising as well.

As with when he first learned about being a Gifted, Aer didn't get any sleep the night he learned how precarious his situation truly was, and it showed the following morning. He floated through breakfast and his first few periods like a ghost, even less aware of himself than normal. During lunchtime Emily actually had to wave her hand in front of his face to get his attention, and even then he was barely able to pay attention to her. At the start of the next period he simply asked to go home. He was about to head out the door when he remembered Zoe. He needed to not strand her at school, and he was too tired to drive anyways. He wasn't actually able to leave, maybe he could just go to the nurse until the day ended? Thinking about the nurse brought another faculty member to his mind, the principal. Mr. Delaney's suggestion was certainly risky, but Aer was certain that there was a good reason for it. With renewed sense of purpose, he headed in the direction of the principal's office. He was nearly there when a dainty young woman emerged from the door. She spotted him and smiled.

'Hello Aer.' She signed.

"Hello Mrs. Wellspring." Aer replied, too tired to sign back.

For whatever reason, Mrs. Wellspring was extremely quiet, and where Aer was involved she would generally sign instead of talking.

'Did you need something?'

"I was, um, I was coming to talk to you about something sort of important." Aer replied, suddenly having second thoughts.

'What a coincidence, I was just about to come talk to you about something important as well.' These signs were accompanied by Mrs. Wellspring stepping back and opening the door to her office, 'Come inside please.'

Aer complied, finding himself inside a messy office room for the second time in the past 24 hours. He sat in the chair by Mrs. Wellspring's desk and waited for her to take her seat across from him.

"Now then Aer, tell me what's on your mind." Mrs. Wellspring said.

"Zoe and I are Gifted and Mr. Delaney said to talk to you about it." Aer answered immediately, "Wait, what? Why did I say that?"

'I confess, I already knew about you.' Mrs. Wellspring confessed, 'A friend of mine with an eye for detail noticed that "Zoe" was wearing your uniform yesterday.'

"But we wear the same uniform. We can only even tell them apart ourselves because Zoe puts a Z on the tags for all her clothes" Aer said, feeling more and more confused.

'Not to a Gifted who can see individual threads.'

"But, but, but..."

"Calm yourself. I promise I'll explain everything." Mrs Wellspring said.

Aer felt a feeling of calm wash over him. It was like before, when Mrs. Wellspring had asked him what was on his mind. She had spoken verbally then too...

"You're, you're a Gifted!" He said, realization dawning on his face.

Mrs. Wellspring smiled, "Yes. And I'm here to help. I'm in charge of a small organization based in this school. Sadly this organization only has two remaining members. Myself and the friend I mentioned earlier. I'd like to ask you and your sister to join."

"Wait, you're talking, but I didn't do anything this time." Aer said, trying to buy his mind time to think as well as get some questions answered.

"Yes, my Gift is the ability to command." Mrs. Wellspring explained, "I was very careful to avoid using it there. It only triggers if I speak a verbal command, at which point anyone within earshot will do whatever I tell them."

Aer remained confused.

"Don't worry about it." Mrs. Wellspring said, "I can explain more later. Oh, wait, shit..."

Aer suddenly found the workings of Mrs. Wellspring's Gift completely out of his mind.

"No, fuck, I'm setting a terrible example." Mrs. Wellspring said, looking a tad panicked, "Ah, that was worse, I know I'm not being a good role model, but don't curse. And as for my ability, please do worry about it."

Aer then found his thoughts overwhelmed by a lack of comprehension, he could no longer think about anything but Mrs. Wellsprings ability.

"AHHHHHHH" Mrs. Wellspring panicked, "I'm so sorry, forget everything I said."

Aer stared at her blankly for a moment before asking, "So, uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Mrs. Wellspring proceeded to facedesk, accompanied by an audible sigh.

"Um, Mrs. Wellspring, are you okay?" Aer inquired.

A few hours later, Aer and Zoe sat in an empty classroom with Mrs. Wellspring and her partner. Her partner being Carter of all people. Aer had accepted it but Zoe was still in denial, as indicated by her head in her hands and the random muttering of the words "no" and "please" from her direction. Despite the lack of members now, Mrs. Wellspring insisted that at one time her nameless organization had been made up of fifteen people, as though fifteen constituted an "organization." Aer had decided not to argue, although whether it was for her self esteem or his own sanity he wasn't sure.

"So basically, we help each other not get captured by the government while at the same time using our Gifts to stop troublesome Gifted from hurting others." Carter said, finishing the explanation he had been delivering.

"So basically, this is one of Zoe's anime?" Aer asked.

"Anime, where?" Zoe instantly perked at that.

"So, Zoe, what do you say to putting our lives at risk in a likely vain attempt to prevent the government from capturing us and having the research lab Mr. Delaney works at perform inhumane experiments on us while also condemning criminals to these inhumane experiments assuming we kick their asses and not the other way around?"

"Can I have my boobs back?"

"..."

"That was a yes."

"How long have we been swapped?"

"Since right after you got me from class."

Aer concentrated for a moment, allowing him and Zoe to swap back. He didn't understand how they could randomly swap without thinking, but they had to work to swap back. They would really need to control that. And speaking of things to control, Aer did have one condition for joining up with this little group.

"Alright Mrs. Wellspring, we'll do it." Aer sighed, "Just so long as Carter doesn't poke my sister's chest ever again, for any reason."

"Carter will not poke Zoe's chest ever again, for any reason." Mrs. Wellspring said pointedly.

"I hate you both." Carter said, "I could have restrained myself... Probably"

"Says the guy who's about two seconds from fondling the principal." Zoe said with an obvious edge to her voice.

"It was three seconds!"

Aer sighed again, "I'm going to regret this so much."

With that, he moved to intercept Zoe, who was storming her way towards Carter.

So. Fucking. Much.

End

I'll be writing a few of these. They'll be in a fairly episodic format and thus won't have to much of an overarching plot. Nor will they be especially long. I might write some from other character's PoVs, but for now I'm sticking with Aer

[Greed_Demon]

Ugh! Every time I read poetry it always sounds so pretentious to me most of the time! Its the same here with its double meaning.

[Sutoratosu]

I'm 95% certain that at least one of the meanings of this poem has something to do with ANKL. The poem overall sounds like something that would come from Kalisto, given the events of the past that apparently led up to the current conflict of the RP's timeline. Especially the final stanzas... definitely sounds like a direct reference to her well-intentioned sins.

As for the second meaning, I beleive it lies in how you set up the rhyming itself. Each of the Lines seems to have particular wording that relates directly to an aspect/ element directly tied to one of the Goddesses- for example:

(A) Burning flame, the first act.

( Hope to open a heart so cold.

( To be together and grow old.

© Love is such a strong emotion.

(A) Searing pain, an agonizing fact.

(D) ‘Twas not hope but aimless luck.

(D) Could not save us when tragedy struck.

© Hope is such a pointless notion.

(A) Smoldering loss, the soul’s contract. ((IE, as in, Control...))

(E) Ashes of perfection gone forever.

(E) Lost unto my heart’s endeavor

© Emptiness is such a cold ocean

Anyways... I could go into greater detail with tearing this apart to uncover and lay bare the full meanings, such as actually listing how all the mentioned things in red relate to the individual goddesses, etc. but... it's past midnight here. I have to drive places in the morning... sleep deprivation and getting behind the wheel of a 2 ton missile don't really mix, so... I'm just leave this here for now. Tell me if I got anything right.

[Shamitako]

Ugh! Every time I read poetry it always sounds so pretentious to me most of the time! Its the same here with its double meaning.

Well, one meaning is the thing I wrote it about. Another was something that just sort of came together as I wrote it. There was no intention of being pretentious, I was just writing what spilled out

And Strat, you're close to the first meaning. ANKL's goddesses are based on my perceptions of emotion, thus anything I write about emotions is bound to point to them

But TBH, the goal was not to try to make people guess the meanings. I know for a fact there are only two people besides myself who will know what it's actually written about and I don't especially want anyone else to know. The second one is just happenstance that happens to fit with the scenario

[0 Jordinio 0]

Just to make sure I've gotten this correctly, is this about Homura from Sekirei?

Either way, it was a rather well written poem. Not sure because I don't read a lot of poems, but it came across to me as from a cynical perspective. Which is pretty sweet, I don't often see cynical poems.

[Shamitako]

Just to make sure I've gotten this correctly, is this about Homura from Sekirei?

Either way, it was a rather well written poem. Not sure because I don't read a lot of poems, but it came across to me as from a cynical perspective. Which is pretty sweet, I don't often see cynical poems.

Oh, whoops, there was a post IDK who that is, so no. And funny you should mention that. I'm very cynical indeed

In other news, new poem and the first of a series of short stories

The stories are intended to be done in a sort of "superpower anime" style with the main focuses being comedy and action. They'll probably have a good bit of sexual humor, but nothing explicit (I'm pretty sure if you read it you'll see why I said this, lol) The first bit up now is sort of an introduction type thing. There's a little more info that'll be coming whenever I write the second one but that should cover the basics of the setting

[Shamitako]

K, so, chapter 2 of Aer and Zoe up. It feels both super long and painfully short, and there's at least one thing that I don't feel was explained adequately. Overall I'd say it's good though, at the very least I feel it does its job of solidifying the setting

There may or may not be a poem up in the next couple of days, depends on school and RP stuff