#I was so ready to draw only edgy things and then proceeded to do the opposite really

[wardingshout]

the chill good timeline where Tora tries rly hard to make friends but kinda sucks at it and Chifuyu is unnecessarily mean to him

[themyskira]

Wonder Woman Annual #2

Previously in FUCKITY FUCK FUCK I FORGOT THERE WAS AN ANNUAL AS WELL: Diana prepared to face down her most terrifying foes yet: the Dark Gods.

Who or what are the Dark Gods? Dunno.

What do they want? No clue.

What is this awesome and terrible power that they wield? So far, mostly just the ability to shoot lasers out of their eyes and incite people to deliver badly-written villainous monologues.

Why are we supposed to be so pants-pissingly afraid of them? Because James Robinson told us so.

Last issue ended with the Dark Gods manifesting over Washington DC, at which point it was revealed that they are… giant floating statues, I guess? But, like, scary floating statues. With lasers. So scary.

And then moments later, a couple of Star Sapphires arrived to whisk Diana away so she could appear in this shitty annual.

Diana is teleported to the Star Sapphires’ home planet of Zamaron, which is heavily battle-damaged.

The two Sapphires who brought her here are called Miss Bloss and Miri Riam, who are apparently pre-established minor Green Lantern characters — something I had to figure out on my own, because Robinson just assumes we all known them, and that Diana does too (I’m reasonably sure they’ve never met). The one time his overexplaining might have actually been useful, and he couldn’t be arsed taking a panel or two to make introductions.

Diana yells at them that she’s too busy to help with whatever their deal is, and launches into a recap of last issue. But, you know, that was all of two weeks ago, so by all means, spend a page getting us up to speed.

She’s also still throwing around ‘crazy’ and ‘insane’ like they’re going out of style. 

“…and although I’m not certain — the woman who told me was insane at the time--“

How about ‘possessed’, ‘out of control’, ‘somewhat incoherent’ or ‘compromised’? Any of these would be more accurate in this context, as well as not equating mental illness with dangerous and violent behaviour.

But anyway, essentially Diana says ‘my world is being attacked by the Dark Gods and it’s my fault’, and Miss Bloss is like, ‘well, if that was your fault, then our thing must be your fault, too’, and points up at the giant floating Dark God statue thing that Diana has somehow failed to notice until this exact moment.

Oh, goody.

Diana starts questioning them about what happened.  Honestly, that’s really all she does these days.  If she’s not delivering plot recaps herself, she’s setting up allies for flashback-exposition or allowing villains to monologue at her. Oh, sure, occasionally she fights somebody, but mostly she’s just a vessel for tedious exposition.

Miss Bloss describes the Dark God’s attack:

“Even to recall it now, it feels like a dream or vision from another world. Almost like we were looking at ourselves from outside of it all.”

The first time I read this, I took it to be a figure of speech. I interpreted it as an expression of Miss Bloss’s deep level of shock at the devastation she’d experienced, that it still felt unreal, as though it had happened to somebody else.

I was giving Robinson too much credit: he meant it literally.

As we’ll learn in a few pages’ time, one of the Dark Gods has some kind of power over people’s perceptions, enabling him to induce in others a sense of unreality and dreamlike detachment. We’ll learn that the Dark Gods have deliberately used this ability in order to confuse enemies and limit their ability to respond to or even comprehend attacks.

Frazer Irving — who illustrates the flashback, along with a couple of other scenes in this issue — plays into this well.  His stylised art and colour work lends a somewhat eerie dreamlike quality to his pages, creating a sense of altered reality.

Unfortunately, Robinson can’t write dreamlike.

So what in theory should be an eerie, confusing, unreal flashback instead just turns into Miss Bloss telling us that her memories of the attack are eerie and unreal and hazy… aaaaand then proceeding to describe the attack, the enemy, his name, the concept he embodies, his powers and the precise reason why he was able to kill so many Star Sapphires, all in exacting detail. 

The Dark God who attacked the Sapphires is called Karnell and he calls himself the god of love, but the love he embodies is dark and gritty and edgy and corrupted. He can sense any ‘impurities’ or ‘flaws’ in a person’s love and rub it in their faces. When he does this to Star Sapphires, something something their rings freak out and they spontaneously combust.

Diana asks, ‘yeah okay, but you didn’t know that this was my fault when you dragged me here, so what gives?’, and Bloss and Miri are like, ‘welp, our leaders are all dead, Carol Ferris is busy in another comic, we all frankly suck, and you were a Star Sapphire once in that Blackest Night crossover event.’

At which point I went, ‘wait huh what??? but that was before the New 52 reboot!’, before remembering that Geoff Johns’ entire preboot GL run survived the reboot for no other reason than because Geoff Johns gets whatever he wants.

Diana agrees to lead the Sapphires against Krakoom (I’m sorry, I’m not going to bother to learn his name, he’s not worth that kind of time), and the Sapphires respond by giving her the Nazi salute due to an unfortunate artistic miscalculation.

Diana: And if I am going to stand among you — fight alongside you — let me look the part. Sapphires: As you wish it, so do we, Wonder Woman… be a Star Sapphire once more.

And with that, they give Diana a makeover.

It’s not a bad costume, especially when you compare it to her Blackest Night design. That one tried to ape Carol Ferris’ hideous then-costume, which featured hip cut-outs and a plummeting neckline that ended around the crotch area, by giving Diana a bathing suit with hip-holes and a bared midriff. This design retains many familiar Star Sapphire costume elements — the stiff pointed white collar, the combination tiara/mask, the starburst symbol, the long gloves and high boots — without going into creepy male-gazey territory.

buuuuut it also looks like Diana is wearing a pink apron over her usual costume, and that is something I cannot get past. It also varies wildly across the issue, depending on which of the four credited artists is drawing it.

By the way, I say ‘makeover’ because despite violet blaze on her right ring finger, it took me several times flicking back and forth before I was certain that Diana had been deputised into the Corps as opposed to just being given a new costume in order to “look the part”, as she put it. I know this sounds like it should have been self-evident, but Robinson gives absolutely no indication of any deeper change in her. Not even lip service to the fact that Diana is connected, through the power ring, to the emotional spectrum and the violet energies of love.

Contrast this with Diana in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3:

“Extraordinary. All of them, in their way, have tried to explain it to me before. Hal, John, Kyle… even Guy, may Ares watch and aid him. But it defies all attempts. There is no way to describe it. What it is to wear a power ring, and feel emotion made manifest. To wear fear on anger or will or hope on one’s hand… To wear love. Too beautiful for words…”

There’s a lot about Wondy’s Blackest Night tie-in that’s flawed and frustrating and flat-out bad, but this page gets it right. If you’re going to make Diana a Star Sapphire — going to give one of the most loving hearts of the DCU the power to channel her love into tangible power — then you need to acknowledge the weight of that.

In this comic, it’s as insubstantial as a costume change.

Flying up to confront Kratakoa, Diana wonders if she could really have summoned the Dark Gods. Supergirl said she brought them into this plane with a careless wish, and… oh, come to think of it, she did inadvertently make a wish during the recent Dark Nights: Metal crossover, while coincidentally handling some magical wishing metal. But nah, that couldn’t possibly have done it!

She reaches the big floaty statue and a bloke with spiky wings emerges from it. It’s Klangalang, and he’s got his monologue cued up and ready to go!

He opens with a fairly standard ‘ahaha, I’ve been expecting you, hero!’, and the implications fly straight over Diana’s head.

Kibble: You came, Amazon! Sooner than I expected, too! Good… I’m going to love this! Diana: You’re some kind of seer, too? You expected me?

Let’s review: The villains Diana supposedly summoned, the villains who have been trying to kill or neutralise Diana before she can interfere in their plans, have attacked the Star Sapphires in advance of their invasion of Earth. Despite not knowing about Diana’s connection to their attacker, the Sapphires reached out to her for help, teleporting her away at almost the exact moment that the villains launched their opening assault. Now the one villain who hasn’t joined the invading force is cackling that he’s been expecting Diana.

Even a half-competent hero should be able to join the dots and realise they’ve been deliberately lured away. Not so Robinson’s Diana, who gazes at him wide-eyed and demands, ‘omg, u expected me? are u psychic or sumthin???’

After a couple more rounds of obscenely dense questions from Diana (along with another out-of-character ’crazy’ slur), Klunk ends up having to straight-up spell it out for her. He also explains how she summoned the Dark Gods.

Krunch: You wished for the gods’ return. Well, here we are. Here I am! Diana: Like a dream, but yes, of course. But I meant the Greek pantheon, not— Krump: Gods! That’s all you said.

Small nitpick: Diana would not think of her gods the “Greek pantheon”. She’d be more likely to call them “the Patrons”, “my gods”, “the gods of my people”, “the gods of Themyscira”, “the gods of Olympus”, “the Olympians” — she knew them as all of these things long before she knew Greece, or any world outside her island home, existed. The only reason she might refer to them as “Greek” is for the benefit of people in Man’s World, as a point of reference.

More importantly, are you friggin kidding me, the friggin layers of incompetence here from our supposed hero

accidentally makes a wish while wielding a weapon of magical wishing metal

manages to make the vaguest wish possible, opening a loophole for THE WORST GODS to infiltrate reality

immediately forgets she ever wished it

why would she even wish for that?! her gods haven’t gone anywhere!

To be somewhat fair, the reason she doesn’t really remember it is that “the God With No Name” (YES REALLY) made it all feel like a dream so that she wouldn’t realise she’d made an irresponsible wish and needed to immediately rally everybody together to resist the Dark Gods.

Except… that in itself doesn’t make any sense.

There are two possibilities here: the Horse With No Name could have clouded Diana’s memory of making the wish after the Dark Gods were pulled into this reality — in which case, why? How would she even land on the conclusion that she’d accidentally summoned some evil gods that she’d never heard of, when her intent was to call on her own gods and she’d had no indication that it had even worked?

Alternatively, he clouded her mind in the moment of the wish, to render her thoughts vague and imprecise and open the door for the Dark Gods’ invasion. Which doesn’t work either, because it turns out that the Dark Gods are pretty pissed off at being pulled out of their awesome reality.

King Koopa: War was declared the moment you dragged us from our home… our beautiful world — which you regard as the ‘Dark Multiverse’ — we see as a paradise… where we were more than even gods to our worshippers… we were everything!”

So basically their plan is to turn Earth into a desolate hellscape just like their home.

Diana, who has already been told that Kraig is a god of corrupted love, conveniently forgets this fact just so that Robinson can tell it to us again.

Diana: You call yourself a god of love. What kind of love wants to be feared? Love is unconditional. KHAAAAAN: Spoken like the addled naive romantic I expected. Love always comes with conditions. Sometimes, I confess, I question… am I god of that love, of those conditions behind it? But then I realise… I don’t care.

Cool story. Glad we can agree on one thing, at least.

He monologues for a couple of pages about how he’s going to open her eyes to the truth of how horrible and selfish and corrupt love is, then draws Diana into his mind so that he can monologue some more.

We learn that the world of the Dark Gods was forged by a group of divinities called Titans, “much like the reality of your own Greek pantheon” (incorrect, you’re thinking of the Protogenoi; the Titans were the second generation of gods). But because these Titans were hardcore, they did it by smashing five other realities together. And into this terrifyingly dark edgy metalscape came… +~teh D4rK g0dz~+

Robinson then undermines the super-extra-double-dark feel he’s going for with another embarrassing name and an accidental rhyme.

“We Dark Gods followed, as gods do. King Best and then the rest.”

KING. BEST.

But wait, we haven’t even gotten to Kalamazoo’s dark edgy totally original backstory!

In fact, this is so dark and edgy and original that I’ll throw in a quick content warning here for descriptions of domestic violence and shittiness towards sex workers.

“You’ll meet a boy — his mother broken by a wanton father who forced her to cheapen herself further with wraiths and under-beings. The mother died — beaten to death. When he saw her blood still dripping from the fists of his father, the boy ran, fearing the same fate. The boy loved his mother, but hated his father and the world. Both emotions — love and hate — burned so brightly that even from within the darkness of our world, their glow caught the eye of mighty King Best.”

Domestic violence! Sexism! Slut shaming! Fridging! It’s like a game of grimdark bingo!

After three goddamn pages of this, Diana suddenly twigs what we all figured out eleven pages ago, ‘oh now waaaaaait a minute, you didn’t lure me here so that your buddies could invade Earth while I’m distracted, did you?’

Klinger responds by almost murdering Diana, and is only stopped by the intervention of the Star Sapphires.  They all retreat, and Diana proposes a new plan: all the Sapphires will channel their energy into her, something something, true love wins the day.

So Diana flies up to Kimberley, sword held aloft and blazing with violet energy, and announces, ‘boy did you make a mistake when you told me that you used to be a sad boy child! now I have only love in my heart for you!’

Karma Khameleon is like, ‘oh no, love! my one true weakness!’, and I’m like, “d… didn’t we just have this story?”

Then Diana straight-up stabs him with her love sword, and Korgo fades away with an ‘I’ll beat you next time, Captain Planet! Next tiiiiiime…’

Diana farewells the Star Sapphires, and Robinson shoehorns in this bit of virtue signalling:

Miri: Please… Diana, think of us as your sisters, too, for all time. Diana: Or “brother,” I notice. Miss Bloss: Love is love, no matter who bears the heart.

This is a welcome and needed change to the Star Sapphires. The fact that they have been portrayed up until this point as an all-women corps (with the exception of a few briefly deputised blokes) is bound up in ugly gendered ideas, exemplified by Geoff Johns’ comment in 2009 that “anyone can join, but most men are not worthy”.

But there’s something gratingly self-congratulatory in the execution of this course correction.  Robinson’s doing the absolute bare minimum here — including one or two male background characters in a handful of panels — and flagging it as progress with a phrase associated with the LGBTI community.  We haven’t even seen a single named male Sapphire, let alone one with a speaking part; I think it’s a little premature to be looking for kudos. And either Miri or Miss Bloss could very easily have been replaced in this story by a new male character.

The Sapphires teleport Diana back to Earth, where she finds DC a smoking ruin. And as the air clears, she sees—

—wait for it—

—this is truly shocking and terrifying—

THE DARK GODS MADE A MEGAZORD

THEY MADE A FUCKING MEGAZORD WITH THEIR DUMBASS FLYING STATUES

A GODDAMN MEGAZORD WHO WHAT HOW WHY.

Diana’s face does this:

[mahousenshi-skeletor]

 looking back middle school was so weird and funny? and all my problems were caused by my own emo-ness then later scene-ness mixed with being a big weeb and douche bag at the time plus 2008 was peak cringe culture here’s some examples: 

-there was an anime club but the club was completed decorated in pictures of Jacob Black, including a life sized cardboard cutout 

-we had a cosplay track meet and it was a mess

-one kid showed up as Sasuke Uchiha and then realized nobody even noticed he was in costume this lead to him dressing up as Sasuke everyday for the next 3 years

-we had to make an ad on the school announcements for the cosplay race but we were told our ad was and I quote “too bloody”

-we got banned from the school library not once not twice but trice. once for playing football  the second time because we checked out all the vampire and pirate books and didn’t return them then the third time because we all decided to check out the school computers and friend decided to print out porn and not pay the printing fee.

-there was these like kool aid like pouch drinks but they looked like blood pouches they tasted like iron vitamins

- on the first day of school and I told my friend about this anime and some boy overheard and asked me “would you date mushrambo” (the name of a character in the show) and eventually that turned into a school joke but his name went from mushrambo to mushration to mushrat

-there was a school rule that different grade students couldn’t eat with each other but somehow nobody noticed the 19 year old who always hung out with us at lunch

-we went to the mall SPECIFICALLY TO BUY “EMO CLOTHES”

- one kid ALWAYS wore a MCR jacket over a strait jacket he claimed he stole from a hospital

-silly bands 

-actually one girl, no two girls stopped being my friends because I hung out with the MCR kid and they all thought we were dating or something and the girls were really jealous because he was the scene dream

- literally every latina on campus was in love with Zero from Vampire Knight and so every conversation in spanish contained him somehow

-one girl was at an appropriate age to find phineas from Phineas and Ferb “sexy” and then decided she was ready for motherhood (I think she named her baby “luna” after the cat from sailor moon)

-one girl stopped being my friend because I didn’t add her on facebook

-i didn’t have a facebook yet

-I hung out with a group of girls we referred to as “the white devils” and they stopped being my friend because I didn’t go to the lady gaga concert with them

-there was a boy who was like 8 or 9 but he was going to 7th grade so we threw him a birthday party everyday in hopes of making him age faster

-one of these parties themes was “gregor mendel” the food was peas

-slap bracelets, and the cool kids bought metal ones and those cut your arms

-one girl wrote a “yaoi high school goth AU” of Spongebob for class and presented it

-apparently Sasuke kid’s parents were both ultra rich doctors or something

-these two girls parents married each other and when everyone found out they started getting referred to as “drake and josh” and I’m sure they were totally not sick of it

-my friend was going to move to mexico so he wanted to “do as many Japanese things as possible” 

-before every hang out this friend sent us videos on “how to properly eat ramen” and “how to drink sake” (we were 11) and he actually legitimately tried to follow these instructions

-speaking of stuck up girls one girl’s dad was an app designer and because Iphones only came out that year everyone was shook

-one girls dad was a drummer in band and she thought she was the shit

-we saw dirty dancing for class, twice.

-people didn’t buy music? Idk, whenever a kid wanted to play a song they just played the sample from the verizon store or whatever

-the kid who “properly ate ramen” lost all his teeth because some kid hit him with a mallet used on gongs

-one girl claimed she could pull anything from her jacket and then proceeded to prove it. 

-everyone who read manga during class would try to read porn as well, the teachers would sometimes catch them then show the whole class.

-some kids had yaoi poker cards, once a girl I knew pulled them out during a fire drill and her crush decided to play poker with us, he never spoke to us again. 

-actually her crush was the guy with the mallet

-we all wanted to be “mangakas” and write manga

-we all started smackjeeves with self inserts so many self inserts. I actually had 2 comics. 

-i remember one kid was really good at drawing bears and he basically used his drawings as currency 

-your family all shared a computer that was kept in the computer room and everyone would claim it was there turn conveniently whenever somebody else was using it and because we were emo weeaboos we all had to write our edgy over the top sexual Avatar the Last Airbender/the Wacky Adventures of Ronald Mcdonald crossover fanfictions in front of our families or on occasion while collabing with a friend in front of their families.

-if you said the word “table” everyone would pretend to vomit

-we were OBSESSED with Cotton Eye Joe, out of all songs, and would instinctually line dance to it. remember we were emo.

- we did an exercise in class and i don’t remember what it was but somebody was somehow crowned “emperor” so we actually called him that for the rest of middle school

-there was this school wide thing called “slap ass friday” and you would slap everyone’s ass on friday while trying to protect your own and I’m 100% sure that was sexual harassment but we didn’t know that at the time. When the teachers realized what was going on and told us to stop the student body thought that they were telling us to not to swear so all we did was change it from “slap ass friday” to “slap butt friday” and when they told everyone again the name was changed to “smack butt friday” and eventually it fell out of style

-if somebody was your friend you called them your “homie g” 

-google gave us presents during christmas because well, they basically were buying out the town at the time

-once somebody sent a nude of himself in a yugioh cosplay and he accidentally sent to all his contact and his mom made him go to church everyday until he was like 19

-crossover AMV omg.

-I think that’s when Fergie’s solo career started (i was the only scene kid into fergie music but whatever)

-also I think there was a housing crisis.

-the memes then were good.

-we all got into naruto specifically to make fun of a kid who liked naruto but then all ended up liking naruto more than him and actually befriending him (i actually ended up dating him and stealing $2000 of yugioh cards from him)

-somebody threatened to kill me in youtube comments and then gave me their real address, we became pen pals because apparently we were both blocked from the same deviantart group.

-one kid picked up the habit of biting people’s arms when he said hello to them.

- there was a teacher who kicked me out of class because I was supposedly according to her “a communist” 

-that teacher had a rivalry with the anime club teacher because she was team Edward.

that’s all I can remember and the most anybody will ever hear about my childhood and also I think some of this might be from high school or elementary school but I got bad memory.

[deadlywest]

Luke x Michael Part Two

original story, not requested

  word count: 1801        

 I smacked my alarm clock hard enough to turn it off but not hard enough to break it. I hate mornings. But today was an important day so I have to be primed and ready. I had a really big interview today. My entire musical career depends on this interview. But i'm feelin’ good about it.

           I got out of bed, excitedly got dressed in my normal attire: my ‘butch please’ tank top, an open red button down shirt, black skinny jeans and combat boots. Pretty edgy but i’m comfortable.

           I hurried hot of my apartment building, ignoring my roommate and grabbing my skate board. Once I was outside, I threw my board on the ground and worked at getting my ear plugs out. Billy falcons ‘broken dreams’ flooded my ears as I maneuvered through the crowds of people. After years of skate boarding, my movements were fluid and smooth. The spring air was full of the fragrance of coffee and I loved it.

           I glided to a stop in front of my favorite café in the city: Angies Angels. They had the best breakfast ever. Angie, my friend, own the café and she put in my very own little nook. Towards the back, only with two seats it’s pretty much invisible to anyone who isn’t looking to be alone.

           But as I walked towards my nook, I saw possibly the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. Dirty blond hair looking like he just rolled out of bed, which I might have believed if he was wearing a suit so early in the morning. A very figure forming suit, mind you. Not to mention the lip ring he kept moving, no doubt by a sinful tongue.

           I must have been staring to long because big beautiful eyes looked up towards me. The bustle and buzz of the café seemed to disappear and I could feel an instant connection with this person. My body instantly betrayed me, throwing me back to middle school when I could no t control my body reactions. I almost lost it when his eyes scanned my body. A devilish smirk crept on to his kissable lips when he noticed the … special placement of my board. I knew he definantly knew when his eyes flashed up to mine. The moment he started to move, I turned and ran, I hauled ass. I didn’t stop or slow down until I got back to the apartment.

           When I got inside, I collapsed onto the floor, breathing hard and confused as fuck. How could I even feel this way? I’d never met that guy in my life! Unless…. No no, no, no! I couldn’t possibly have someone so, so… handsome! Just then, my roommate came through the door with his girlfriends, snapping me out of my thoughts.

           “Hey man, what’re you doing on the floor?” he asked, “I thought you went out?”

           “Yeah… I did…” mumbling my response, I slunk towards my room, still trying to collect my thoughts on whatever happened. I faintly heard them mutter if I was high and if they should do anything before I closed the door to my room.

I had dreamed of the day I would find my mate, reveled in the tingles I got when they traced my patterns; got depressed when I knew they were out there but never even tried to write anything back. I’d finally found him and my stupidity ruined it. How could I have done that? Unbelievable!

“FUCK I FORGOT MY BREAKFAST!” I shouted rushing to the kitchen. I was half way to the fridge when I tried, and failed, to stop, and went flying into the cupboard. “Shit ow….” I could barely scramble up when i saw the clock on my counter: 10:09. I had 11 minutes to get back into the city for my interview. I was so trapped in my thoughts I didn’t even notice the time!

I rushed faster then I ever have. Constantly looking at my phone, checking the time. Going even faster, I barely made it to the extremely tall building. The shadows of the building making me feel so small. It reminded me that i’m only 1 out of like 100 applicants. Anxiety and doubt crept in, holding me back from going in. just then my phone buzzed in my pocket, seemingly with a text from my boss, based on the ring tone.

“Just go in already idiot.” It read. I glanced across the street to the pizza place he owned. I couldn’t see him but odds are he was laughing at seeing me hesitate, that asshole. I don’t know what was pulling me in or pushing me forward but when I looked at the building, I moved forward, suddenly eager for something inside. When I actually got into the building, I realized that I can’t just go and search until I found what I was looking for, whatever that was. So I just moved to ask the receptionist where to go for the interview. She directed me to a giant room filled with all the other applicants. She just kind of left me there so I started to look for a seat. Needless to say I would have been fine not coming in after all.

           One by one, people came in to get groups of four. There weren’t calling names, just getting the first four they see. I decided to stay towards the back, successfully collection my thought. I passed most of the time either listening to music or playing games on my phone. Hours later I was finally in a group of four. They distributed us in four different rooms. The room was mostly barren, except for two chairs with a table in between. After I sat down, not even 3 minutes passed until I got bored. So I pulled out the pen that I always have with me, just in case inspiration hits.

Lacking paper, I let my hidden emotions pour out through my pen and on to my arm. It was meant to be an actual heart with the word “hope” under it. But then I felt the tingles of them tracing the drawing. The pull I felt when I knew they were thinking of me, but then it was gone. Without even finishing tracing it, they were gone. Then my tune changed. Instead of “hope,” I wrote “Bye, My Love.” They didn’t touch it again.

It was about 30 minutes later when I thought about going to find someone. I had literally done nothing but wait today. Just when I finished that thought a woman dame in and sat in the chair opposite me. She had tamed blonde hair and brown eyes. Thin lips while wearing a nice blue dress. She just had the aura of matures.

“Hello. Mr. Clifford?” she inquired. She had a feminine voice but still very firm.

“Michel is fine, thank you.” I never thought I would get so nervous just getting up to shake someone’s hand.

“Okay, Michel. How are you today?” she didn’t seem all that interested in the actual answer so I just said “I’m good, you?” in which she never answered.

“So…” and the questions began. I took most of them pretty well but some I think were kind of ordinary. Of course she was writing down all my answers. The last question though, that took me by surprise.

“And have you found your mate?” when she asked me that, all my previous confidence had deflated, my shoulders sagged and I closed in on myself.

“Ah… no, I haven’t” out of habit my hand when directly to my arm. A nervous tick I had seemed to pick up. After all, it was the only connection I had with my mate. She must have taken notice because she proceeded to ask if I had “received any drawings.”

“I haven’t received any but I do draw sometimes…” I trailed off. This didn’t feel like in interview anymore. More like a thirsty secretary who wasn’t getting any.            “Do you have any idea who it is?” her odd interest in my lack of a love life was unnerving to say the least.

“Listen,” I started, “If this is the rest of my interview, I don’t want it. I don’t really enjoy being reminded of who doesn’t want me.”

She spoke up, frantic, when I moved to leave. “Wait. I’m terribly sorry. I meant no disrespect. May I ask of you one more thing before you leave, Mr. Clifford?”

“What?” I asked, stopping in the doorway to face her. I really didn’t want to have to stay here for longer than I had to.

“Can I see them? The drawing?” her hopefulness was extremely borderline frightening. Reluctantly, I showed her. She moved to touch in but I wouldn’t let her.

“Mr. Cli-“and I left. I didn’t listen to her trying to get my attention. I wouldn’t let her touch them. They were my creations and my mate.

Once I got out of the building I just went straight home. Those question put me in such an awful mood, who even asks those types of questions? It was ridiculous. I didn’t even care about the interview anymore.

 ♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂

             Sarah sighed while she watched Mr. Clifford run out of the building. She had been put on a secret mission to watch out for Mr. Hemmings potential mate. Most of the applicants where there because there mate told them to follow their dreams. Mr. Clifford was the only mate less applicant. Naturally, she asked questions. Something must have been wrong with him to react so sensitive like that, she thought. Just then, her phone rang with a call from the boss himself.

           “Yes?” she answered politely.

           “I’ve gotten a knew drawing. Thought you might want to know about it, you know, incase you see it anywhere.” His hopefulness sounded much like a child’s before Christmas. Wishing with all his might that he gets what he wants. “Ill send you a picture.” And he hung up.

           While Sarah collected her disheveled papers, Mr. Hemmings took a picture to send, getting excited at just the thought of the possibility of finding his mate. Although the nature of the newest drawing was worrying, all Mr. Hemmings could think about was finding his mate and having them in his arms. The bump in with the stranger this morning made him even more eager to find them. So much so that he sent Sarah on a personal mission, which he tries not to do.

When Sarah’s phone tinged with a message, she opened in nonchalantly but as soon as she saw it, her face paled and her heart sped up.

In the picture, Mr. Hemmings arm was adorned with a bleeding heart that read                                                        

 “Bye, My Love.”