A hummingbird’s tongue is so long that it curls up into its skull and around its eyes when not in use. 

My sister Jenny had finally turned 22 and her birthday gift was rain. 

“Cover your eyes,” I said after I showed up unexpectedly at her apartment.  “I have a surprise for you.”

After a bit of convincing she went along with it, and I led her down five flights of stairs to the lobby. 

She asked if we could have just taken the elevator.

“You’re not supposed to use the elevator when it’s raining.  I read that once.  I also like how they’re called flights.  Where’s the plane?  Haha.“  She didn’t laugh at my joke.  I told her she could open her eyes now and she did. 

"What? Where’s this surprise?” she asked.

“I know how much you like rain.  It’s your birthday and it is raining.  Happy birthday, sis.”

She looked out into the bustling, wet street and then gave me a sour look.  I gave her a sweet look.  She walked away.  I walked a way. 

“Look, Jenny, to be honest, I would have bought you a present but my wallet is empty,” I said as I reached into my back pocket and showed her my empty wallet.  I had emptied it out the night before but she didn’t need to know that.  I even took out my library card.  That’s not even currency.  I definitely could have left that in there and she still would have thought I was broke.

She looked at the floor, letting her curly blond hair become unfurled, grinned, and then looked back up at me.  “It’s okay, I like your present.  At the very least it shows that you care about me." 

Show them being in pain

Hours after the fact

Days

Give them a wrist that clicks funny for months instead of a badass scar that only gets attention when the character needs to seem cooler

DM: Please describe your new character

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond I want a girl who knows what’s best 

Its clear from these lines that she has high intelligence and wisdom. Intelligence is emphasized with the lines “ She is fast and thorough/And sharp as a tack” and considering she is fast she likely has high dexterity. 

So this is a Dex/Wisdom/Intelligence build which makes me think that she is a ranger. She may, however be using a dueling fighting style instead of archery, since later lines say she “uses a machete” so she clearly has still with one-handed weaponry.

Her alignment is suggested in two instances. One being “With fingernails that shine like justice.” Though this doesn’t necessarily mean she idealizes justice, this can be implied. So she is on the good end of the good/evil spectrum, and because she “uses a machete to cut through red tape” she clearly is not lawful. She does not get bogged down with bureaucracy but cuts through it. There is not other indications that she chaotic, so I am inclined to call her neutral, making her neutral good. 

Her race is harder to pin down, but given that she was “eyes that burn like cigarettes,” that may suggest that she was red or orange eyes. This means  Drow or Tiefling. Now, given that she also has, “shoes that cut” this could suggest that she has sharp hooves, meaning Tiefling. I would also point out that she changes her name from Kitty to Karen, and Tiefling are known for taking on new names. 

Ha ha…

Ha.

Hm.

my mother died at home in a hospice cot, slowly shutting down over the course of about a week. when she had stopped responding, i remembered what dad told me about wishing he’d played music for grandpa, and i put the radio on her favorite country music station and kept it on for her until she died.

daddy died in hospital. no cassette players, no decent radios. the day after he was brought in, i thought again of what he told me, and i bought a little portable bluetooth speaker. even though he never woke up, was never aware, i played music for him too.