What Raphael did was sitting there, calmly, feet bare and looking entirely at home with the wind sometimes pulling at the strands of hair. Patiently waiting.

Heh.

“You are the doctor. Go on then, I came all this way already,” Asmodeus shrugged with one arm and offered his empty, open palm. Raphael tilted his head at it, eyes leaving his ‘patient’ for only a second. Still, the reaction was there.

Raphael cleared his throat, took a breath and then asked: “… do I actually have your permission to treat you like a patient? Asking questions I usually would not? It’s not exactly pleasant. Everything you say stays in this room, but I will know. And for a person of your status that is a risk. Talking o me requires trust. I assume you are aware I am almost physically unable to betray any trust put in me, I am the safest option possible. But even so… you give me permission? Limited to this room and this room alone?”

The angel held his own hand close to his open palm. Calm as anything.

With a chuckle, Asmodeus raised a bit from the chair, leaned forward while he took the hand and squeezed. Once. “Show me what you can do” He said, only one eye watching the healer, smirking,

He nodded solemnly, squeezing back before he released his – apparently – patient now and said: “Thank you. I will not disappoint”

“I certainly hope so,” Asmodeus said, smirking, his eyebrows wagging almost without consulting him.

“So, how are you?” - he said, looking pleased as anything...

Tell me what you think my muse is afraid of and they’ll rate it 1-10 based on how uncomfortable it makes them.

Please enjoy, this wasn’t supposed to be so long @_@

Twelve people was not a bad turnout. Everyone had their own workplace. Ingredients were plentiful. And we had exactly one man in the group. I was not sure about his disruptive influence yet.

Up to now, he had donned an apron (white, nondescript), put out a notebook (new, lined), set a pen (filled with actual ink) next to it and now looked around with pretend confidence. I could seem him take deep breaths in between greeting the other participants.

For now, that was acceptable behaviour.

He took out and set the different kitchen utensils we provide his way. So, he might actually have some experience. Not a bad sign.

But I still decided to watch him. Our last participant just arrived and took the place next to him:

“Hello, my name’s Janet Dunn… it seems we are neighbours tonight,” she smiled, and he took her hand, looking away just a moment to shake it.

“Ah, hello Janet, name’s Enoch Loew, pleased to have you at my side” and returned to rearranging everything with a bit of a frown.

After a minute, she blinked and asked: “Ah it doesn’t seem to have started yet? What… are you doing?”

“Ah…” He changed some things around once again. “I try to find my home-order of things. Otherwise I will find nothing while we are cooking. For now, it’s a wok in progress.”

Inwardly, I facepalmed.

But his neighbour giggled: “Well! Don’t sweat the small stove.”

My conversation partner, Emma, has shown herself to be very resourceful when it comes to finding the right words to say. She has trouble coming up with English words sometimes, but she is very good at getting around this problem. She manages to get her meaning across just fine.

We talk about cats a lot (about 99.9% of the time, possibly even more), and one word Emma can never seem to remember is 'kitten.' Instead, she often substitutes the word with 'little cat' or 'baby cat.' From the first time she did this, I still knew what she meant given the context.

Though I think this is an important skill for language learners to develop, it can also get in the way of expanding their vocabularies.

I'm guilty of doing this a lot in my German class. I am more interested in learning about German syntax than German vocabulary. I am more likely to say junges Kind (young child) instead of worrying about learning the German word for 'toddler.' This bad habit leaves serious gaps in my vocabulary of German words, and I rely heavily on my German dictionary as a result.

Dancing on a big stage was always fun, but one of the most fun things about being at the competition was that she got to wear pretty outfits and dress up with hair and make up just like the big girls did all the time. As she waited for her rehearsal to start, Mary found her way to the costume store. This trio with Lizzie and Scarlett was lyrical so she knew that the costumes were going to be super pretty like the ones that Maddie and Chloe wore all the time. In these costumes they would really look like big girls. Mary really wanted to see her costume and try it on so she could pretend to be a big girl. If they did well in this competition, Miss Abby would think that they were big girls too.

A knock at her door, and she straightened in her chair, brushing off her jacket.

“Come in.” She said, maintaining a pleasant tone.

The man who entered wore a barely formal button-up shirt and dress pants. In his arms were countless stacks of papers.

“Here they are!” He said, unceremoniously dumping them on her desk. She sighed as he went through the pile, drawing out a few papers at a time. “Five… eight… twelve… fifteen! These right here.” He removed the rest from her desk and set them on the floor. “These are the drafts for the cover design.”

“I see.” She rolled the chair up. “Well, these three are definitely out.”

“Why—well, okay.” He rolled his eyes and took the papers off the desk. “What about the rest?”

“Hm…” She leaned back in her chair, surveying the remaining designs. After a few minutes, she picked up a single sheet. “This one.”

“Really?” He blinked. “What about that one?”

“No. This is the one.” She handed him her chosen design.

“Well, okay…” He took it, scribbling something in its margins. “Guess I should’ve expected you not to take too much time deliberating…”