Grasping Worms and Squishy-Brains

Bleh. I am sorry for the long delay. I have been trying to think about what to write since Monday, and due to Nano-Squishy-Brain, there was nothing. For those who haven't heard the term before, Nano-Squishy-Brain is achieved when you are so deep into noveling, that you're more living in the world of your novel than you are in the real world. For example, if someone asks if you're hungry, you'll be able to answer yes or no, but not when you last ate or what you're in the mood for. The person asking would have a better chance of getting an answer if they asked what your Main Character is in the mood for.
Any way, I finally figured out that I could just post something that I had worked on for you. So, here is the chapter that I spent all today working on! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Chapter Thirty Four

       Jocelyn entered the Koi and nearly left as every eye turned to look at him. Not that he should be surprised by that. It was a small town with plenty of travellers. Everybody wanted to know if it was a friend or a stranger joining them that evening. What he didn't like was the confusion. Like they didn't know which category he fit into any more. He felt a small touch at his side and looked.

       It was the smith's youngest daughter, Carol. She was mature, her hair bound back into a matron's hair clip. Not a single hair out of place. He'd met her around town, but the first time he'd actually gotten to know her was earlier last year when he'd helped deliver her son. What had she named the boy? Calvin?

       "Jocelyn," Carol said.

       "Carol? What do you need?" he asked taking a step away from her.

       "I didn't ask before, I didn't know to ask... will you bless my baby? I want him to grow up strong and healthy..."

       She moved the baby towards him. Jocelyn held up his hands and moved away.

       "Carol... I helped you deliver him. I'm not... I'm the same guy I was then."

       Her eyes filled with tears of relief.

       "So you already blessed him? Jocelyn, thank you."

       She moved Calvin into the crook of her arm and grabbed his hand. She tried to kiss it and he yanked it away. She looked like he'd tried to slap her or worse slap Calvin.

       "Carol, I don't... I'm not holy. I'm not..."

       "You're blessed." She said, looking confused. Then her expression turned stricken. "You don't approve of Calvin?"

       "Calvin is fine-"

       "Is it me you don't approve of then?"

       "Carol, I like you fine... Ow!"

       Something had caught at his hair and a few strands tore out of his scalp. He turned and saw Donal, the tanners eldest son.

       "Your hair... it will be a blessing." Donal stammered before running off, the strands protectively held near his chest. Jocelyn moved to run after him, but shook his head in disgust instead.

        "I'll just have to hope he isn't planning on eating it or something... My hair isn't a blessing..."

        "Gods damned right it isn't. Now, I want to know why you didn't fix me when I broke my arm."

        Jocelyn turned again, feeling assaulted at this point. Was everyone moving closer or was it just him?

       Sam was there. He was older than Jocelyn, dark unwashed hair and a long dirty beard. His eyes were dark and his skin, yellowish. He'd broken his arm falling from a height a few years back. Jocelyn ground his teeth.

       "Your arm was fine. It didn't need to be Healed. All it needed was rest."

        "I lost nearly three weeks of work due to it. Do you only use your powers to help your ex's? Or did she put out again with that little harlot you started keeping recently when she started sleeping the nights at your place? Is that why you healed her?"

       Three weeks to heal a broken arm and the man had the nerve to think Jocelyn had done nothing? Had he been here helping so long that they took quick healing for granted?

       "Kuzunoha wouldn't have healed on her own. She was dying..." Jocelyn growled.

       "Yeah, what about my arthritis? I guess that isn't important enough to matter?"

       They were moving closer, surrounding him. That last had been from Joel. He was old, one of the community elders. He'd owned the tailors until he'd passed it down to his daughters.

       "I've been helping. That's why you come to see me every week."

       Healing Joel once a week made the condition manageable and arthritis wasn't life threatening to begin with. Speeding up the body's natural healing cost him nothing and he'd always done that freely. Healing like he had done for Kuzunoha, that would kill him. Slowly, but it would result in his dying before his time all the same.

       "If you really cared you'd take it away forever!"

       Joel moved forward to punch him and Jocelyn stepped out of the way. The old man tripped and fell to the ground. Argent, the bartender, stepped forward before anyone else could move.

       "Hey, this is my bar. I'll have no fights in here, especially not with Hidalgo's healer. Blessed or not, he's safe in my establishment."

       Joel and Sam snarled and left, taking three others with them.

       "Thanks, Argent." Jocelyn said.

       He was shaking. How had the town's mood turned from respect to hate so quickly?

       Argent picked up another glass and a cloth.

       "I remember when you helped my momma. She nearly died of the flu, didn't because of you. Whether you healed her or Blessed her, I got nothing to say. You did your job in my book. Sit down. You and your girl eat free, as always."

       "My girl..." Jocelyn felt a touch at his arm. Salla was smiling at him.

       "Come and sit down."

       He nodded and then flush guiltily, remembering what Sam had said about her and Kuzunoha.

       "Salla? How much of that were you here for?"

       She sniffed out in annoyance.

       "Enough. It's alright though. I mean, I waltzed in and took the best looking guy in town from them. They were never going to like me. I will say that I'm surprised to get it from the men folk too. Normally it's only the women that are the vindictive ones, fearing I'll steal their husbands and sons."

       "It isn't true. What he said." 

       About anything, he wondered? Jocelyn wasn't sure. Kuzunoha certainly hadn't tried to steal him away from Salla... only because she didn't want him though. She'd made that clear when she'd cheated on him.

       Salla took a drink. The mug was half empty; she must have been in here before he got here.

       "Of course it isn't. I'm not a harlot and you haven't been keeping me. And while I wouldn't put it past Kuzunoha to try it, I know you well enough. I have no worries on that front."

       He sighed.

       "You've been here months. I'd hoped they would start accepting you as one of them."

       "Jocelyn, you remember how long it took for them to accept you, right? Hell, some of the old men here still refer to you as "the new boy". It's something that people in towns always feel. They're close-minded."

       "I'm going to have to do it all over again."

       "Do what?" Salla looked confused.

       He gestured. "Leave. Work to be accepted somewhere else."

       "Why would you want to leave? You've got a good thing going here?"

       "Did you see what just happened? It's not that I want to leave, it's that I'm going to have to."

       "Jocelyn..." She put a hand on his arm. He shook her off.

       "This is serious." He told her. "The first time I healed someone I was seven and my best friend had fallen wrong. She'd broken both her legs. I fixed her. Within a few days everyone was acting weird, begging my parents to see me. They were hated when they wouldn't let anyone. Still, they didn't really start worrying until a man dressed in royal livery came to my home. He told my parents that the high lords wanted to see me, to see if I was Blessed. We all knew the stories. Kids held captive and used only for their power to keep the lords and their high mucks happy. I don't want that. We left that night."

       "I think you're over reacting just a bit."

       "You think I should have gone to work for the lord?"

       "By the gods, no." Salla said with a laugh. "Those high lords are all the same... grasping worms who want everything. Everybody who gets that much money and prestige becomes one. If they don't start that they, they turn that way. No, what I think you've over-estimating is your community. Your people. They'll accept you again. But they have to get used to the idea of who you are now. Give them some time."

       He wanted to growl, but it seemed reasonable. It had only been a day. That also meant that it had only taken a day for hate to develop. Better not to think that way though. He was so worried that they would never accept it though.

       ''I can do that. Give them some time to come to terms with it."

       "Good. We can work on some of your other problems."

       "Other problems?"

       "Kuzunoha for one. How long will it take before she's fully healed?"

       "She is fully healed."

       "She's... what?" Salla said. "I saw her this morning. She did not look healed to me."

       "All of the illness in her was cleared when I healed her. What she is now is weak from blood loss, bruised, beaten, dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition. Richard and Shasta confirmed that she pretty much stopped eating after she got hurt. She was only drinking water and slim broth and she drank less and less of both every day. But all she needs is water, easily digestible food and time."

       "Good. When she's around we don't seem to have time for each other."

       Jocelyn leaned his head back. 

      "Trust me. I don't want her in my home anymore than you do. She'd been be gone soon. Another two, maybe three days and that's it."

       "Where's she going to go?

       He didn't answer immediately. He didn't know.

       "She has money. Even if she's still too stubborn to go home to her sisters, she had money to pay for an inn."

       Would he really send her to an inn? Three days after she'd nearly died? He corrected himself. Three days after she'd ruined his life a second time.

       "Good." Salla put her hand on his. "I'm less that fond of her. She can be self-centred, vain and catty."

       "She is that." He agreed.

       "So if we leave, where will we go?"

        "We?" He hadn't thought about that. What would Salla do if he left? She responded before he could.

       "You thought I wouldn't come with you?" She seemed disappointed by that. "Jocelyn, before I stopped here, I'd never lived in a town. Why would I stay here without you? I wanted to stop moving around, I wanted to know where I'd be the next day, where I'd be working. But I'm about ready to go on the road again anyway. Oh! You could join my familia!"

       "Would your family accept me?" He asked. She laughed.

       "You're blessed. Of course they would accept you. It would take time for them to trust you since you're a townie, but having a good healer, especially a blessed would be a huge blessing for the whole kompania."

       He puffed out his breath. Because he was blessed. Everything would be fine because some god had decided to meddle in his life. Maybe the gods should have given him some sort of a map or a purpose along with the powers he was granted. The truth was he'd never wanted to be blessed. He'd wanted a quiet life. Living with a woman he loved. Could he do that on the road? He could do that with Salla?

       He didn't know.

       "I'll keep that in mind. Maybe. Would you be up for travelling somewhere else instead of with your family?" She smiled, proudly.

       "Jocelyn, do you know the history of my people? We believe that the goddess Denina chose us.  She wanted people to follow her and so she danced in the sky to let everyone see. Those that saw her twinkling footsteps swore that they would learn that dance and began travelling, searching for the old ways and the ancient knowledge. Our eldest tell us that our travels are the dance. What I'm saying is that so long as I left a message for my kompania here, their well wishes would follow me everywhere. Decide where your heart is leading. So long as ours remain in accordance, I'll be by your side."

       She lifted her hand and put her palm to his. It was a strangely touching gesture. He felt connected with her. It had been a long time since he'd felt so comfortable with a woman...

       He shied away from that, turning his mind over to wondering how he was supposed to figure out where his heart was leading him to? It was easy for Salla. She just followed her goddess, dancing among the stars, apparently. The gods of his birth parents had never laid such a clear path for him. He venerated them, the lady of winter and lord of summer, but he didn't worship them. How could he worship any god, not knowing if it was the one that had Blessed him, or worship another, knowing that some other deity had believed in him so much that it had blessed him at birth?

       Now that was an interesting idea. Finding out what god or goddess had marked him, might help him find out what exactly he was supposed to do. Perhaps he could even find out more about being a blessed. Find out what others had done before with their blessings.

       If he had more information, he could find out who his god was. That would be the first step to finding out why he'd been blessed. Where could he find that much information? Not in town, clearly. But he had heard about a huge library somewhere up north... He'd ask about it, see if he could find out where it was.

       He smiled at Salla and their hands, still touching. He stood and kissed her, winding his fingers between hers.

       "Thank you. You've given me a lot to think about."

       She kissed him back.

       "That's what I'm here for."

Thankful

     I have a lot to be thankful for. Since getting married eight years ago, my husband and I have (generally speaking) had decent jobs, money to spare and friends surrounding us. We aren't rich, by any stretch, but neither are we collapsing under bill payments and both of us still love each other very much.

     In the past nine years, I've been doing Nanowrimo as well. I know some authors are against it, but personally, I think its the cat's cream; it gives me motivation and companions on my writing journey.

My computer with some new "writing buddies" from our Nanowrimo Box of Awesome.

     I've always used a computer, laptop or tablet of some sort to write on. Of course, that means that every three to four years the units start getting old and breaking. I've always been lucky enough to be able to afford a new one when it happens.

     This situation tends to leave me with partially working older laptops that I hate throwing away. In most cases, they still work, just not as well. They'll have forever loading times or even more commonly, the battery will stop holding a charge. Fortunately, being part of the Nanowrimo community means that I tend to know people who use laptops and don't need top-end units since they want a word processor and little else. So I started giving my older units away to people who needed them, who were down on their luck. 

     These people are always grateful and I've always made a point of telling them to simply to pay it forward when they have the ability to. Knowing that people who want to write can because of me is more than enough.

     This year I had a generation one Transformer tablet that I wasn't using any more. The main damage was a single long crack in the screen though it still worked pretty much perfectly otherwise. At the beginning of Nanowrimo, I asked the ML's to keep an ear out and they found someone almost immediately. She would be starting late, IF she could get a computer, though she didn't think it would be possible. We cleared the system, took it back to factory standards and passed it to the ML's for her.

     On Tuesday, I met the girl they gave it to, a super-nice woman who thanked us up and down for it. The look in her eyes was one of a drowning woman who'd just been thrown a raft and offered a tow off the water. She almost seemed shell-shocked by the kindness of a complete stranger that she'd never met before.

     My husband and I were pretty casual about it, giving her advice on programs that we used, tips for using the system, how to detach it so you can use it as just a tablet and telling her to pay it forward when she could... but this was the first time I've seen my generosity affect anyone that much.

     This woman was so nice she even gave us a card, just to thank us. It really hit me then, that we don't always realize that it's the little things, the acts of kindness we do, that can really mean the world to other people.

     So today, I'm incredibly thankful that I have the capability to help others when they need it. It helps me to know that my little acts of kindness can be someone's candle, holding back the darkness another day until they can stand strong again themselves.

Crabs and Writers Block

Today was one of those days that is most difficult for me. It's a day when the stress of working and writing both as full time jobs starts getting to me, my word count starts dropping a bit and then it starts actually getting hard.

In particular, I had a killer attack of writers block. It was stupid. I knew what I needed to write (a scene involving them setting up camp and not finding the clue of awesomeness they needed), but I couldn't write it. My first 400-800 words were all tell and no show, my next 400 were tired and staring around bleary eyed while my mind figured out the problem and shared it with me. 

That problem was that despite knowing the scene that fit in there, I didn't actually know what the purpose behind the scene was. There was no goal, no conflict, no nothing. It was two people setting up a camp-site, describing the landscape and not arguing. That isn't a scene. That is a bone dry factual account. 

Unfortunately, as is usually the case, I had to figure out what the scene was about. I almost gave it up as a lost cause when I finally figured it out. And oh my was it a stupid thing that set me writing again. 

CRABS. 

Yep, it was crabs got me writing again. Little ugly brown crabs that walk sideways and have pincers that look more like shovels than weapons, but are still as sharp as a dull pair of scissors. I don't even know if the little guys exist (its a fantasy and a rough draft, I'll figure out that part later). 

I now know what the next chapter includes, how the crabs and the landscape play into it and what they end up doing during it. I will have to rewrite today's chapter but that will be for later, for a time after Nanowrimo is over. In the meantime, just remember, sometimes it is the stupidest of little things that will get your plot moving again if you are stuck.

Like crabs.

I Hit An Important Point In My Novel

Yesterday, I got out of the first third of my novel. Okay, I technically may have passed it the day before but I'm counting it as yesterday because my characters have now left town. For the first time in my novel I am describing bog and swamp, talking about bandits and weaponry, rather than courtesy, sisters and ex-lovers. It really feels like my novel moved into a whole new world.

So I guess that's some advice to take with you novelling... if you feel stuck, send your characters someplace they've never been before. It can add a lot of new life to a piece that you feel a bit stuck on.

She was like a porcupine...

So, I was writing for Nanowrimo today and I ended up having this great scene about a girl having to go ask her ex if she could stay with him for a few days. A few of my friends asked to read it and I figure, I could do worse. Thus, I'm going to post the entire chapter here. Please, let me know what you think about it. By and all, it's unedited, except for a few things like spelling and character names, so please be kind. I hate sharing unedited stuff, but when it's Nanowrimo, what am I to do? Oh, in case you're also doing Nanowrimo and would like to friend me over there, my handle is Feytouched! I hope you enjoy my chapter twelve of Kitsune-Ken, Volume 1.

          Jocelyn kissed Salla again and she snuggled against him, her hands slowly searching his body. It was nice having her by his side, in his room. They hadn't been dating long, but they had become comfortable quickly. She understood him.

          There was a knock at his door and he grimaced. Most times she understood him. This was the part she hated though.

          "Sorry." He whispered, against her lips.

          He turned to the door and started to get up. He'd need clothes, pants at the very least. Fortunately, he always kept a set right by his bed. Salla's shoulders dropped.

          "Do you have to go immediately? Why can't you wait?"

          He sighed. "I'm the only healer in town. I need to be available, regardless of the hour."

         "But we're..." she gestured. "We're in the middle of something here. It's probably just someone who stubbed their toe or something. You can ignore it for a few minutes at least."

          She reached out to him. He caught her arms and kissed her fingers.

          "Salla, I'm sorry, but you know that I have to be available."

          She slumped but looked around at the house they were in.

          Because he was the healer, despite only being twenty, he lived in one of the nicer places around town. They had clean well access, tubs for heated water, thick stone walls and even a solid wooden roof. Repairs were done often by grateful people, food and new clothes were left at his door for him; everything he had, he had because he worked for the town for the benefit of everyone. Part of the job description meant that he needed to be available whenever someone needed him.

          Salla loved the respect they were all shown in and around town, but she didn't much like that he was always available for others.

          Honestly, even had he not been the town healer, he still would have done it though. It was his path to help people. The air was cold on his skin and he grabbed the pants and threw them on quickly.

          Though he would have done it anyway, times like this he did almost wish he could ignore the call.

          The stone floor was chilly and he made a mental note to throw an extra log on for the night. It may have been spring, but the weather was skill cool out, too cool to go without.

          He opened the door and blinked. Kuzunoha was on the other side of the door, looking chagrinned. His mood dropped along with the temperature as a cool breeze blew into the house, chilling the ground even more.

          "What do you want?" He asked and then winced. She'd asked to be left alone to make her own bad decisions. He'd told her to do so. Still, it wasn't like him to be rude and angry. Perhaps he didn't love her anymore, but that didn't mean that he wanted her to suffer. He just wanted her to grow up.

          "I'm sorry... Can I come in, Jocelyn?" She shivered.

          He hadn't noticed what she was wearing before then, but now he looked. Normally at this time of year she would be wearing a thick cotton robe, the traditional dress of her ancestors. Now, she was wearing a pair of men's breaches, a decidedly common homespun shirt and a pair of her best slippers. She hated the modern clothes that Himiko preferred, probably because Himiko preferred them. He couldn't think of any good reasons why she would be coming to his house late at night, wearing someone else's clothes unless something was wrong.

          "Get in here. What happened? Are you alright?" He led her to the kitchen and sat her down. Then he rushed over to the stove and threw on an extra two logs and a pot of water. A lot of things could happen to a woman this late at night.

          She watched him, shivering, her arms wrapped around herself.

          "I'm sorry, Jocelyn. I didn't mean to wake you like this."

          "It's alright, I wasn't asleep yet." He felt a slim pang for Salla. "Now tell me what happened?"

          The door to his bedroom opened and Salla came out. He had a momentary hope that she would be bringing him a shirt to wear, but to his embarrassment that was all she was wearing.

          "Who is it, Jocelyn?" She stopped as she saw Kuzunoha. Her mouth set into a line.           "We may not have been asleep, but it isn't as though we weren't doing anything."

          He raised an eyebrow at Salla. It may have been true, but it was cruel. Kuzunoha didn't need that. Since he'd caught her cheating, she had only come to him when she needed help, when no one else could, like when she'd brought Richard. She wouldn't come unless she was in need somehow.

          Kuzunoha saw what Salla was wearing and flushed, glancing down at her own clothes. She crossed her arms, as if she were embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were staying here at night now." She glanced back at him and looked away. "I'll just... leave. I'm... sorry."

          Kuzunoha was the sort of woman than made you want to protect her. He couldn't just let her leave this way.

          "Kuzunoha, sit down. My door is always open to you, even if... other doors may be closed." He looked at Salla. "Please go back in, I'll be back soon."

          Salla's eyes flashed and he sent her a slightly frustrated look. Please, he whispered to her in his mind, begging her to understand. The faster I help her, the faster I'll be able to come back to bed.

          As if she'd heard him, she sighed with annoyance and walked over to him. She kissed him, hard, her hands on his chest. He opened his mouth to her kiss. It was urgent, worried. She pulled away and smiled at him. That smile held all the confidence he could have hoped for.

          "I love you. I'll be waiting for you in bed."

          He smiled, watching her walk back to the room. Back when he'd dated Kuzunoha he'd decided that clothes were silly and that women paid too much attention to how they looked in them. Privately, he liked his women naked when they were with him, something partially concocted by Kuzunoha's refusal to leave his house unless she looked perfect. Salla had convinced him that women wearing his clothes, was a close second.

          He turned back to Kuzunoha as the door closed and he coughed into his hand. He tried not to be disrespectful... staring at Salla had been that. He cared about much more than just her body, but that display didn't show that side.

          Kuzunoha glanced back at him and jumped, looking away from him.

          "It isn't that important... not important enough that I disturb." She gestured to the bedroom. "I'll find somewhere else, it's fine..."

          He stopped her and sat back down. "Somewhere else? What are you talking about?"

          She sighed and wouldn't meet his eyes. "I... I can't really go back home."

          "Tonight? Can't you get a place at the Koi or..." He thought about it.

          She really didn't have many places to go. She wasn't the sort of person to make friends easily. She was more like a porcupine. If you could get past the quills, you'd seen what a cute creature she could be. If you irritated her... well, she wasn't shy about showing her displeasure.

          "Ever, maybe?" She sat down and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Himiko came home tonight while I was getting ready for dinner with Richard and-"

          "I was wondering whose clothes you were wearing," he muttered.

          She flushed and crossed her arms over her again. "Actually, these aren't his, but..."

          He groaned, "Start at the beginning, please."

          She sighed and told him. His measure of Richard went up slightly. At least the man knew where the boundaries of work and pleasure were. And if Kuzunoha had gone to make a deal with Jack, he would probably be doing some research on who Richard was now. If nothing else, he would want to make sure that she wouldn't be falling for this man or making sure that Richard would be leaving town. The two were friends, but Jocelyn knew he had some plan about marrying her and consolidating the families. He'd all but told most of the men in town to leave Kuzunoha to him.

          He wondered if he should warn her. He decided against it and made a note to go and see Jack later. Maybe he would find out some information about this stranger that would put Jocelyn's mind at ease.

          "And why can't you go back home?"

          She looked away. "I'm not... I'm an adult Jocelyn. I need my own home, my own... well, a place that's mine. She'll never respect me so long as I'm still living off the family's wages at home."

          "Kuzunoha, do you even know how to get a house?"

          She shook her head. "No, but I was going to ask... well, I thought... you might know..."

          He sighed. "Kuzunoha, most houses are built for their children when they marry, if their parents homes are too small for the entire family. You might be able to claim one of the abandoned houses at the outskirts of town, but you would have to clean them up, making them livable, do repairs..."

          Those homes were empty usually because of bandit raids. In some cases, the blood hadn't been washed out completely, left to dry and flake away after the bodies were removed. He personally wanted those homes taken down and perhaps new homes built over them. The question as always was who had the money or time to do such work And if Himiko wouldn't help her sister, Kuzunoha would have to choose one and hope that she could clean it herself. It was a bad place to be in.

          "Well, I will be leaving soon, perhaps as early as next week. But don't worry, if I find enough money with Richard, I should be able to afford to pay somebody to help me fix up one of them. And perhaps Richard will be willing to let me stay with him for the rest of the week. I don't want to..."

          "I can't give you the healing room, but I do have a cot, a pillow and a blanket you can borrow for a few days. After that, we'll have to talk about the arrangement, but I can at least do that." He wished that the look of relief she shot him didn't make the stones in his stomach crack so much. "Let me set up the cot."

          About ten minutes later, Kuzunoha was set up for the night and Jocelyn retired to his room. He looked at Salla. She was in his bed again, but she was glaring viciously at him.

          "So? What was wrong?"

          She would have heard him moving the cot, even if she hadn't heard the conversation.

          He slid out of his pants and under the covers. "Kuzunoha will be staying here for a few days. Her sister has cut off her money and until they make up, well, I can understand why she doesn't want to go home."

          He would have to talk to Himiko tomorrow. It wasn't quite in his job description, he was a healer, not a priest, but someone had to try to talk to her. If nothing else, she would want to know where Kuzunoha would be staying.

          He sighed. The last time Kuzunoha had stayed here had been years ago, when they'd still been together. She'd been in this room. It felt wrong, having her outside and Salla in here. Salla was glaring at him, but softened as she slid over.

          "It won't be for long will it?"

          She kissed him and then started trailing kisses down his chest. With a disappointed sigh, he stopped her from going lower.

          "It shouldn't be for long, but I've never liked... well, it would feel like there was an audience."

          He didn't like getting too intimate when he had a patient in the house, but somehow, knowing it was Kuzunoha right outside... it felt ever odder. Salla grumped and moved to the other side of the bed.

          "So, you're kicking me out while she's here?"

          He shook his head and pulled her close, kissing her.

          "No." he said fiercely. "You are always welcome, but its like when I have a patient. I just... don't like it. Please stay. I'd... I'd still like to have you by my side tonight."

          Slowly the tension left him and he pulled her close against him. He wanted more, the gods knew he did. He was so glad to have a girlfriend who understood. Still, it took him a long time to fall asleep, even with Salla lying warm beside him.

A New Blog Deserves a New Post

Well, a new blog deserves a new post, I suppose. I promise that I will try to keep this one up after Nanowrimo. Most likely it will be updates about my work and such, but I will occasionally post snippets of my writing and what not as well. I will try to update at least once a week. Please stay tuned!