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Surgery Sucks... (Life Update)
I live... but it's been a rough few days. It's been almost a week and I'm just now able to sit up for any length of time. Yay for pain pills! I'm just grateful that I don't remember them putting in the breathing tube. x_x
Ai and Soji
Ai leaned on the counter, his chin propped on his hand, staring into space as he waited for the two teenage girls to finish shopping and make their purchase. It was closing time, which he’d told them, but still they stood down one of the aisles, pretending to look at lipstick as they stole furtive glances over the divide at him, giggling to each other. He sighed softly and glanced at the clock again. Ten after eleven. Didn’t they have school in the morning? He knew what they were doing. It happened every so often. Young girls who thought he was good looking would come into the store to look him over, whispering to each other and giggling softly.
It was one of the problems with looking the way he did; tall, lean but well-toned muscles, lavender hair that reached the middle of his back, and striking, aqua colored eyes. He turned heads pretty much everywhere he went. He could usually ignore it, but the young girls who came into his store were a nuisance. He had no interest in them, and not just because they were under age. Ai, at twenty-four, preferred women closer to his own age and much less… girly. He dated women who were sensible, down to earth, mellow. Though, he was currently between relationships right now.
The girls finally made their way to the counter and Ai straightened up, smiling politely. They blushed and put a single tube of lip gloss on the counter. Ai gave a mental sigh but asked, “Did you find everything okay?” They giggled and nodded, handing him cash as he totaled the purchase on the register. He handed them their change, bagged the lip gloss, and thanked them for coming. The girls finally left the store, huddled together as they chattered and giggled.
Ai followed behind them and locked the door after they left, turning off the open sign. Finally, he could close up and go home. He was beat. It wasn’t that he didn’t like working the shop. It was just a lot of work to own and operate a convenience store alone.
Ai secured the cash in the safe in his office and, finally done, he let himself out, locking the door behind him.
Just as the lock clicked, he heard behind him, “Ai!” and a hard body slammed into his back, hugging him tightly. He cried out in surprise, nearly dropping his keys. When he turned around, having to wrench himself out of the tight grip, he let out a loud exasperated sigh.
“Why do you have to run me over every time you see me, Soji?” he complained to the grinning man.
“You’re just so cute, I can’t help myself,” Soji chuckled.
Ai rolled his eyes and turned away, walking down the sidewalk as he shoved his hands in his pockets and Soji followed a step behind him. “You may be my best friend, but you’re lucky you don’t get a fist to the face for scaring me like that.”
Soji laughed. “You’d never hit me. You love this pretty face too much.” Ai rolled his eyes. Soji was a handsome man; at least, that was what the women around them always said. He was fit with short, russet hair and amber eyes. The fact that he was an eternal optimist probably didn’t hurt either. Actually, it was one of the things Ai liked best about him.
They were an odd pair. Ai was quiet and reserved, practical and patient while Soji was boisterous and outgoing. Ai had a tendency to distance himself from people while Soji tried to make friends with everyone.
Hell, Soji would try to make friends with a rabid pit bull if Ai wasn’t there to knock some sense into him. But in return, Soji kept Ai social. Ai would probably go to work and go home again every day without any other interaction in between if Soji wasn’t there to drag him out every weekend.
“I keep telling you that you don’t have to walk me home,” Ai said.
Soji met up with Ai most nights after he closed the shop and walked Ai home. Ai wasn’t entirely sure why Soji felt the need to walk him home.
“But you’re so adorable, someone might attack you in the dark, and they’ll accost you and-“
“Soji… shut up.”
If anyone accosted them, Ai would have to protect Soji, not the other way around. In fact, if the situation were to arise, Ai would just run if he was alone. He didn’t like to fight if he could avoid it, but he’d never leave a defenseless Soji to fend for himself.
“I brought dinner.” He held up the bag he was carrying which apparently contained food.
Ai paused a moment, then said, “You can walk me home.” Soji cheered happily. “So, where did you get the food this time?” Soji had the most amazing taste in restraunts. He always managed to bring Ai the best food.
“Uh… just a place near the hospital,” Soji said a bit evasively.
“That Italian place from before?” Ai asked.
“Mhmm…”
“Karen didn’t want to join us?”
“No, she had to work a double at the hospital. Several of the other nurses are out sick.”
“It’s a shame she couldn’t join us but the extra pay should be nice.”
“Mmm…”
Ai stopped in his tracks and turned back to Soji with a frown. “Alright, Soji! What’s the matter?”
Soji blinked in surprise. “What? Nothing,” he said quickly.
“Don’t lie to me. I’ve known you for fifteen years. I can tell when something’s bothering you. “ Ai put his hands on his hips and glared at Soji firmly.
“No really. It’s nothing. I just…” Soji looked conflicted for a moment and Ai knew he was holding something back. Finally, Soji smiled and said, “I saw your new painting at the gallery. Why didn’t you tell me you had a new one?”
Ai looked at him dubiously, sure that wasn’t what had been on his mind, but he turned away with a sigh and started for home again. “Eric sold it before I had a chance to show you.”
“It was nice,” Soji said softly.
Finally they reached Ai’s loft. “You know where the plates are.”
Ai’s loft was simple, with sparse furnishing and few decorations. He had a couch and coffee table looking out at a bay of windows, a bar at the kitchen, his bed was along one wall, and a makeshift art studio was set up in a corner. It was small, but it was all he needed.
Soji pulled the containers out of the bag and started to dish the food onto plates. “You know… I don’t like that Eric has a key to your loft,” he said as Ai slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it in a basket.
“Not that it’s any of your business… but I’m never here for him the get the paintings so I gave him a key so he could pick them up while I’m working.” Ai turned back and headed for the couch. He looked at Soji across the room, noticing that he stood with head bowed slightly, gripping the counter with both hands. “Soji?”
He jerked slightly and looked back up. “I don’t know… it just seems wrong… that he can come and go as he wants.” He brought the plates to the coffee table and set them down. Ai sat on the floor between the couch and the table and Soji sat on the other side.
“Because you can’t?” Ai asked perceptively.
Soji chuckled softly and smiled to Ai apologetically. “I am being a bit whiney, aren’t I?”
Ai speared a bit of food. “Only a little.”
Soji suddenly grinned. “Then I’ll be demanding instead! I demand you eat this!” He leaned over the coffee table and shoved a forkful of food at Ai, popping it into his mouth before Ai could protest.
But as soon as it hit Ai’s tongue, he had no thought to protest. “Oh my god, Soji… that’s amazing!” he said as he pulled the fork out of his mouth. He couldn’t stop himself from licking it.
Soji smiled happily at the compliment. “I’m glad you like it. I find it so funny that you love food so much but you can’t even boil water.”
“I can, too,” Ai said between mouthfuls of food. He held his plate and practically shoveled the food into his mouth, making small happy sounds as he ate.
Death God
“You do realize you’re not going to live through this, don’t you?” Ice blue eyes cracked open to glare up at the speaker. “I do apologize. It wasn’t your time yet. If we had known Thomas was going to snap… well, this wouldn’t have happened.” The man paused a moment. His face was expressionless except for a mild curiosity about his brown eyes. He didn’t look sorry. He looked bored. “Can you still hear me?”
“I can hear you.”
“Good. That’s important.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a proposition for you.”
“A proposition for a dying man? Isn’t that rather pointless?” Thaed Devlin’s eyes closed again as he felt his strength ebbing away, his warm blood pooling beneath him.
The man crouched over him tapped Thaed’s forehead with one finger, gaining his attention again. “Not for someone in my line of work. Now, do you want to hear the proposition, or not?”
“Do I really have a choice?” Thaed asked with more than a little annoyance.
“In the end, you always have a choice,” the man said cryptically.
Thaed could hear the sound of a scuffle some distance away, voices raised in anger, though he couldn’t see the source of the noise. The man looked in that direction a moment, then sighed heavily. “I wish Thomas had come to me instead of making this choice.”
“Why me?” Thaed asked softly. It was becoming more and more of an effort to keep his eyes open and focused on this stranger.
He looked down at Thaed again. “I’m not sure why Thomas chose you… or your sister.”
“Elizabeth?” Thaed gasped, his eyes flaring wide in shock.
“She’s already gone.” There was no remorse or even sympathy in his tone. He might as well have said the sky was blue.
Thaed growled low, “She was only twelve.”
“Yes, I know. Pity.”
“Tell me you’ll kill the bastard for what he’s done here.”
“Kill him?” the man asked in surprise. “No, he’s much too useful to kill.”
“So he’ll go unpunished for the murders committed here?” Thaed demanded.
“Of course not. Fifteen years for each life will be added to his contract.”
“Contract?”
“That’s right! We had business here. Since Thomas’ actions will have ended your life before its time, I offer you a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” Thaed asked cautiously.
“You work for us for no less than one hundred years and, at the end of that hundred years, you will be granted the years you would have had now.”
“I think the loss of blood has made me delirious,” Thaed scowled. “I couldn’t possibly have heard you correctly.”
The man chuckled softly. “No, you heard me right. I offer you life and youth for a hundred years if you’ll but work for us.”
Thaed eyed him hard. “Are you the devil?”
The man laughed outright. “Hardly!”
“Then why do I feel like I’m bargaining for my soul?”
“Not your soul, young Devlin. Just your life.”
His life, his soul, his honor? What did it matter, Thaed thought. He was always fighting for something. In all his twenty-eight years he’d never been handed anything. He’d had to fight for what he wanted; from the respect of his father to the title that should have been rightfully his.
Everything he had he’d earned by right of sword. It was a lesson hard learned and long in coming.
Emergency Commissions!!!
Payment will be made to Paypal and will be collected after the initial sketch has been done and approved. I'll do humans or furries (depending on the species. I just can't draw some animals, though I will do my best to try >.<). No full nudity, sex, or gore. Light sexual situations okay.
So here's the price list:
LINE ART:
Bust: $5
Half body: $6
Full body: $8
Extra characters: add $5 per character
Background: add $3
INKED ART:
Bust: $10
Half body: $15
Full body: $20
Extra characters: add $10 per character
Background: add $5
FULL CG'D ART:
Bust: $15
Half body: $20
Full body: $25
Extra characters: add $15 per character
Background: add $10
There will be 10 open slots so sign up now!
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4. Pending
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