Chapter 4 - Family Far and Near
**Chapter 4 - Family Far and Near** A couple of weeks into my move to the Pacific coast, I found that San Francisco was starting to grow on me. I couldn't exactly explain why, either, but there was something about the city that really made me...
Chapter 3 - Third Time's a Charm?
**Chapter 3 - Third Time's a Charm?** It had taken us some time to get up after our...morning activities. Tin was very convincing when he wanted to be, and honestly, I loved every moment of it. There was something nice about a...
Chapter 2 - Brat and Breakfast
**Chapter 2 - Brat and Breakfast** San Francisco is a lot of things, especially cold and wet in the early mornings. The fog that rolls in across the city reminded me of the fog you'd see when on a ship moored in the harbor, but the chill from...
Chapter 1 - California Bound
**Chapter 1 - California Bound** Riding a train for the first time was like being trapped inside the stomach of a loud metal dragon. That alone might sound as though I'm having the most exciting experience of my lifetime. But in all honesty,...
Chapter 18 - Love's Labour's...
**Chapter 18 - Love's Labour's...** I'm a coward. There, I said it (or wrote it?). It's hard to say that out loud and even harder to think that I deserve such a title, but I had to, because all I've ever done in my life was running and fleeing...
Special Anniversary Story #1 Come to Dust - Alister
**Special Anniversary Story #1 Come to Dust - Alister** Simon-- I begin this journal because you inspired me to write my thoughts and feelings onto paper. It cost me a bit--a good journal is not cheap--but I write these passages for you,...
Chapter 5 - Finding Work
**Chapter 5 - Finding Work** A week had gone by but I still couldn't find a job. It wasn't that there was no work--other people were getting hired ahead of me. Work, it turns out, is all about who you know, and I honestly didn't know too...
Halloween-Inspired Story: Ghost Unlaid Forbear Thee
**Halloween-Inspired Story - Ghost Unlaid Forbear Thee** A ferret, seemingly in her sixties, had just turned around the corner when she encountered it. She needed a second to register what it was, but as she did, her mouth opened in a shrill...
Chapter 11 - Workplace Relationships
**Chapter 11 - Workplace Relationships** Weeks passed by without much of anything happening. Work, sleep, study with Tri...things of that nature. He had started to show me some martial arts techniques, and was also teaching Lucas and his...
Chapter 10 - From the Desk of Mordecai Crossbell
**Chapter 10 - From the Desk of Mordecai Crossbell** _I am still alive, my dear prisoner. _ You must be wondering how. How dare you. How dare you doubt my ability to not only survive but endure and flourish in this world, in this...
Chapter 9 - The Dragon
**Chapter 9 - The Dragon** Winter had finally decided to rear its ugly head in San Francisco, and I was having none of it. I disliked the cold with a passion and complained about it just as much. Tin had once asked me why I hated it...
Chapter 8 - Baby It's Cold Out There
**Chapter 8 - Baby It's Cold Out There** "This is California, right?" "Yes, Simon," Ethan lazily responded as he put a mug of hot coffee in front of me. I was sitting in the back room of the new Arc with the three cat brothers--Ethan, Ciel,...