Control Of My Life

Control.

I lacked it for most of my life. My mother was shackled when she gave birth to me, and once I was old enough to hold a tool, I was sold, and forced to work.

It took twenty years for a war to free me, or at least the chaos caused by war allowing me to gain control of my life by applying a tool to my former master's skull.

So now that I have control, finally, you want me to give it up and follow your rules?

Death is a choice. I can make that choice.

I do.

Hardened Up

There was a time, not too long ago, when I would have just let the insults go. I would have kept my head down, staring at my drink, and waited. Eventually most bullies get tired when they don't get a response.

But that was before I met her.

I don't think I've changed, at least not too much. It's not that she's changed me, I haven't suddenly altered my entire personality just because I met a girl.

It's just that if your new girlfriend could bench press a fridge, and was happy to beat people up, wouldn't you take advantage?

Too Much Of A James

Kate sat me down, and I prepared myself for her dumping me. She then proceeded to dump me, so I was ahead of the game. But the reason she dumped me was weird.

"You're just too much of a James."

I stared at her for a moment.

"My name is Ryan..."

"That's not what I mean."

"My middle name-"

"James was one of my previous boyfriends, and he was just as immature and self-obsessed as you are."

"But that was him, and I'm me. Give me time to change."

She did, and I tried, but she was a total Sharon.

Hate Versus Appreciation

If the panel had shut, I’d have been locked in there forever, or at least until I ran out of air. But as I crawled out, I saw the boot of Maffon holding it open. I manage to slide out.

“As much as you grumble about it, I guess that robot leg really helped…”

I had started speaking as I got to my feet, and didn’t notice until then it was his flesh leg that was now nearly cut through.

“What the… Why?”

He didn’t answer, instead just hopping to his foot and then hopping off to get medical attention.

Very Sweet Of Them

Even mega celebrities need coffee, and nice mega celebrities will take their turn at running down the block to the nearest coffee bar to grab a round of them.

This mega celebrity was a nice one, and it was their turn, so they were the one turning around and having an employee accidentally hit them with the mop and send the coffees they were buying flying.

The mega celebrity calmed the employee down, then turned to the manager and insisted that they see the employee there tomorrow. Which they did.

Shame it was supposed to be the employee’s day off.

Swear On Your Life

The Swordsman tightened his grip on the blade's hilt. Around him, the dozen or so bandits slowly began to approach him. A few dozen feet away, The Swordsman's servant was looking after the maiden they had come to rescue.

"I swear I will not kill any of you."

The maiden glanced at the servant.

"Does he always say that?"

The servant nodded.

"It is the code of his life. He's only ever broken it once."

"Oh, and that one terrible incident is what drives him to be a hero?"

"No."

"Do any of you have medical issues?" The Swordsman added.

Distressed Calling

The distress beacon didn't have a timestamp, neither in the message nor the metadata, so I was already suspicious. The ship graveyard that welcomed me as I dezoned into the system only confirmed my suspicions.

I should have left then, but I felt obligated to remove the threat, so I went to battlemode and approached the coordinates, expecting pirates or  maybe one of those giant space viruses. Instead, I found a ship matching the distress call, seeming to be suffering the described engine troubles.

Docking was simple enough, and I was prepared to help.

Not for small giant space viruses.