#cosmicstrength

Scarlet was fairly certain that if weren’t for all the damn weddings, she could love summer. She’d added a plus one to her RSVP way back when she got the invitation under the desperate hope she’d manage to find someone by the time the date rolled around. And here it was, tomorrow, and she was dateless. The prospect of watching another one of her college buddies get married, while her own love life seemed be stuck in an infinite single loop... she’d rather fake food poisoning. Better than going alone, after she had already asked for a plus one. 

as  if  he’s  significant  enough  to  be  either.  Right  now,  in  fact,  Andy  is  an  unfortunate  means  to  an  end.  That’s  all.  Had  he  not  been  lurking  around,  Spike  would  have  had  nothing  to  follow  out  of  this  wasteland.  So  he  followed.  Does  follow,  sand  in  his  boots,  glaring  back  at  the  fly-bitten  steed  casting  judgment  on  his  owner’s  behalf.  Palm  to  his  eye  as  if  a  twitch  could  be  smoothed  out,  it’s  lost  on  the  bounty  hunter  entirely—again.  He’s  muttering  expletives  and  accusations  as  if  they’re  coming  out  of  the  blue.   But  this  really  isn’t  worth  the  introspection,  is  it?  It  isn’t  about  him.  This  is  about  the  cowboy-samurai-four-flushing  loser  riding  beside  him.  ALLIES  OR  ENEMIES.  How  self-important  would  someone  have  to  be?  What  kind  of  dumb  luck  had  kept  this  guy  alive,  anyway?  ‘Give  me  a  break,’  he  scoffs,  finally  loud  enough  for  the  other  to  catch.  Not  that  it  matters  if  he’s  alive,  or .  .  .  but  what’s  keeping  him  so  close  by,  sticking  his  nose  where  it  doesn’t  belong?  Allies  or  enemies. 

@cosmicstrength for scarlet and dandy

1. She'd forgotten about Dolph, she hated to admit it. Forgotten about him right until his ship had come down in front of her and Dandy. She felt like she was 23 again and too scared to really do anything to him. All the black belts she had, and they didn't mean anything when she was faced with Dolph. She looked up at Dandy as he pulled her along, the ground shaking where Dolph launched his weapons behind them. This was insane!

You know that's what got you into this mess, you gotta shoot straight with him. If she wasn't so scared right now she might get a little angry. Shoot straight with Dolph clearly didn't work. There's only one other way to get the point across. 

"Huh?" 

C'mere, he pulled her closer and for a minute she was off the ground as he pulled her in towards her. His fingers laced with hers and she didn't even have time to question what was happening before his lips were on hers. 

A flush lit up her face, her eyes wide, his closed. She tightened her clasp on his hand, and kissed him back.  Somewhere around her she felt the heat of an explosion. If she was going to die, dying like this might not be so bad. She held on to him. Held on to the kiss. Held on to this moment, and the way her heart raced in her chest. She let herself forget about Dolph again and focus on Dandy. 

2. She brushed a wet hand against his cheek, he was the most handsome human she had ever seen. Her sisters would be so angry with her, it wasn't on them to save humans -- especially men. They were supposed to drag them down to the depths of the waters. He should be dinner. But when the sweet surfer boy had wound up caught in the waves she couldn't bring herself to do what her kind always did. Instead she drug him back to shore where he'd be safe. 

He was beautiful. If anything the beautiful ones should get to live, right? She sighed softly, reaching up to tuck her own bright red hair behind her ear before she leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She'd likely never see him again, she wanted this one kiss to remember him by. 

"Try and stay safe," she whispered in his ear before she leapt back into the ocean, and with a flick of her shimmering fin she was gone.

3. He had come. Scarlet turned to face him her blue eyes going wide before she leapt into his arms. "I can't believe you came for me," she whispered. After their fight, after the end of their week together, she had thought she'd never see him again. But he had come for her. Come to find her. "Dandy, I don't want to spend any more time apart from you," she said, brushing her fingers into his turquoise hair, this time she leaned in to kiss him. This was the start of something wonderful, she just knew it. This was the start of the rest of their lives. 

4. She waited. And waited. And waited. Some days it felt like she was waiting forever for him to finally walk through the door. But she supposed that was life when the man of your dreams was gone so often. Driving his rig wasn't easy, but that was the life he chose. She loved him for it. And she'd wait here in her little shop for him to come back home to her. The bell over the shop rung and Scarlet whirled around to face him. Everything seemed brighter when he walked through the door. Like all the flowers in the shop burst into bloom. 

"Dandy you're home!" she dashed out from around the counter and threw her hands around him. "I've missed you so much!" she said, leaning in to kiss him. She melted there in his big warm arms, melted right against him. Pulling back she smiled up at him, her eyes glinting playfully, "I'll close the shop, this is worth celebrating," she said, reaching over to click the open sign off. 

5. "So where are you going after this?" she asked, propping one head up on her pillow, long red hair spilling out across her shoulders. She really couldn't believe she'd bumped into him here of all places, but maybe she shouldn't be too surprised. These mountains weren't too far from a sea. If she had to bet she'd guess he was going there to surf. "I'm taking Taka into the mountains starting tomorrow," she said. Her beautiful dapple gray horse was currently boarding at a stable close by. "We'll be riding and camping up the entire coastline all summer," she said. It felt like it'd be quiet the adventure. It'd just be her and her horse, but she had been finding ... if she couldn't have Dandy out on her adventures with her, she'd rather be alone. 

"Looks like you've got a good group people with you," she said, her smile soft. At least he wasn't alone. "I hope they're taking good care of you," she said, leaning over to press her lips against his shoulder, his neck, his jaw. "Otherwise I might have to give them a piece of my mind," she whispered, before her lips pressed against his. 

While Kogami made it his personal mission to push Ginoza’s buttons, he thinks he’s really in for it — and he hadn’t even meant to, this time.

In the back of his mind, he wondered how much that pair of glasses cost and how they felt. The lenses were thin — Kogami knew the other man had perfect vision (who didn’t, with the ability to perfect it?), and frankly, he didn’t understand the fashion appeal behind them. It worked for some people, he supposed.

During one of their night shifts, Gino left his beloved spectacles on his desk to seek a towelette to clean it, and Kogami took it as an opportunity to investigate. He’d never gotten an actual close look, but now, holding then in his hands… they look ordinary (plain, even), but the material in his hands feel mostly sturdy.

As if by some childish curiosity, Kogami puts them on and looks at his own reflection in Gino’s computer monitor that turned black in inactivity. He grimaced… realizing that glasses don’t suit at all. Shame — he kinda wanted the sophisticated appeal behind them. He does push it up the bridge of his nose, feeling satisfaction by having done that once in his life, like some megane he’s seen in the comics he’s read in the past.

He takes the glasses off, and keeps them in his hand, continuing to study them. If Gino has worn these every day, it’s got to be flexible to handle all the tough situations they find themselves in on a regular basis.

So, without thinking, Kogami twists it to see if it’ll bend… and his heart sinks to his stomach, chills rising in his spine when he hears a crack as he snaps the glasses clean in two pieces, perfectly down the middle.

While the fear he feels is immediate, it doesn’t register that it’s happened until he tries to push the pieces back together, hoping that it’ll just pop into place and that it was a fluke.

But it doesn’t, as they merely clink together.

          Sweet  --- that’s the word; the perfect adjective for the sound that fills the acrid air, a city build on blood and bone welcoming any and all who dared to cross its borders and trespass into the land of the unwanted, the discarded.. but Heaven forbid you try to leave. Meteor City so loathed losing things once it had them in its grasp.. things like the frail young woman pouring her soul into the strings of a violin under the noonday sun. She dances while she plays, shoulders and hips rolling in a beckoning fashion to mirror the City’s siren’s call ---  come to me, come to me.  The song is full of sorrow, but the uplifting cry of hope lurks beneath the music as stragglers pause to watch, to listen --- some to leer, others to spare a jenny, tossed into the dirtied tin turned upward nearby, nigh empty, like her stomach.

——— from these questions for the mun.