Trash Panda

Another Natasha(Summer and Heartless)

Jun bit his tongue immediately after he asked the question. He could tell by the shocked look on the girl’s face that he shouldn’t have asked it. Still, he couldn’t believe just how much control the Yakuza had over her. Fight or flight was a natural instinct in humans, and yet it seemed like she had no will to attempt either. She would rather stay and suffer than dare to hope for freedom. He wondered what happened to this “Rose” girl she mentioned, and then remembered the scratched-out plate on one of the other doors in the hallway. A shiver crept up his spine. “How... did you find out about what was going on here?” the girl asked hesitantly. “Don’t you know the Yakuza could have both of our heads if they caught you talking like this with me?” “A friend tipped me off yesterday,” Jun answered her first question vaguely. “He said something that just sounded… odd about what’s going on here, and I went ahead to find out more for myself.” He took a shaky breath. “I had no idea.” He dropped his voice to a murmur and looked away, shaking his head. “I don’t think they’ll find out that quickly. They have no reason to investigate me, and I don’t plan on giving them one. We should be fine.” Jun lapsed into silence again as his mind wandered back to the scratched door. If the other girl, Rose, had really tried to escape, how long did it take for the Yakuza to sniff out her plan? After seeing the complete and utter hopelessness in the American girl’s eyes, he found himself wanting to help her. Perhaps getting her out of this wretched place would bring him some peace of mind after what he had done. He just had to find a way to bring her will back. Jun cleared his throat and glanced up at the girl again, “My name is Hirose, Junichi… In case you were wondering.” He hesitated. “What is your name? Ehr… you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s not… a command, or anything.”

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Stand Alone(Summers and AHeartlessNobody)

Serix took Cassie’s left hand in his right and held onto the makeshift rope with his other, bound hand. As they danced, he used both to guide Cassie through the steps. He manipulated the cloth rope in varied but controlled directions to keep it from snaring them, all while sweeping it in smooth arcs to add flair to their dance. Considering he had only ever practiced this type of dance twice as a child, Serix was quite proud of himself. He had been to multiple mating ceremonies when he was younger and, being a fast learner, picked up the proper techniques from the couples he watched. He never had a chance to try them before. Now, he could see just how much he remembered. Suddenly, Cassie stumbled when she accidently ran into the cloth. She reached out to steady herself against him, and he held onto her shoulder while she recovered. She looked up at him, “Well, once again we see I’m not the most graceful person, huh? Reminds me of how I first met you. Falling off the top shelf of that store.” “Yeah,” Serix laughed. “You gave away your clumsiness right from the start.” He stole a quick kiss and guided her into the next steps. He found himself grinning like a child again. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had so much fun and, by the look on her face, Cassie was enjoying the dance just as much as he was. “How am I doing, Serix?” Cassie asked. “Am I a complete fool or am I at least decent at this?” “Hmm,” Serix pretended to think hard about her question. “Well, you haven’t gotten us tangled up yet. Going by that, I’d say you’re not half bad, Cassie.” His grin turned impish. “Why don’t we put your skills to the test?” He raised his left arm, spinning Cassie with his bound hand and causing the rope to fall down and wind around her arm as she twirled. This in turn dramatically lessened the distance between them until they were just centimeters apart. He continued to lead her into a series of difficult, close-quarters steps. The rope restricted their movements at the beginning, but he guided her through a few moves that slowly unwound the cloth from her arm, returning pieces of their freedom of motion with every spin. “See?” Serix smiled at her, enjoying their proximity. “Dancing with your hands tied is not wrong, now is it?” After the rope had become fully unwound from Cassie’s arm, he spun her again, drawing her close to him once more. This time, however, he pulled her into an embrace and pressed his lips to hers. It was very much like when he had first kissed her before, but this time he didn’t have to wonder if she loved him too. With no uncertainty behind it, this kiss was even sweeter. After a moment, Serix pulled away to catch his breath. He exhaled and rested his forehead against Cassie’s, “How is it you’re able to make me do that every time we dance?”

Another Natasha(Summer and Heartless)

There was a pause as neither of them spoke. Jun continued to stare at the floor. He didn’t feel like talking anymore. He just hoped the girl would believe him… at least, enough that she could relax. He doubted she did, though. Considering the type of men she dealt with every day, she was probably quite on edge to be with him in the room. Well, even if she didn’t know what he was doing, he knew that she was safe for the next two hours. That was enough for now. “I’m... very confused,” the girl spoke up unexpectedly. “Why... why do you even care what happens to someone like me? I mean... I’m just...” She trailed off, searching for words. “Just… bad.” “Bad?” Jun echoed, shaking his head. “No. It’s not you who’s bad.” He glanced up at her hesitantly. “I didn’t know before… about all of this. I only found out yesterday, but…” It was his turn to be at a loss for words. If he tried to explain himself to the girl, it would only sound like he was making excuses, and he didn’t want to do that. “I’m sorry. I really am. I made a bad decision and I regret it.” He sighed. “I know it doesn’t matter how many times I say it. You have no reason to believe me, and I don’t blame you for that.” Jun let his eyes wander over the plain, dimly lit room, “I can’t even begin to imagine how terrible life is here. It really is slavery.” His gaze fell again on the girl, and he looked into her eyes searchingly. There was still one question he wanted to ask her; he just wasn’t sure how she would react. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Have you ever considered… running away?”

Stand Alone(Summers and AHeartlessNobody)

“Well,” Cassie returned Serix’s teasing grin. “It was my dancing that made you first kiss me. I assume I’d have to be pretty good at it for it to do that. So, yes, I am quite sure I could handle it with a little lesson from you of course.” “Fair enough,” Serix admitted. He took Cassie’s hands as she pulled him to his feet and led him down the hallway. He was once again impressed by her swift recovery from their earlier telepathic exercises. Or maybe she was just spiting his attempts at making her rest. If she was, she was doing a good job of hiding her fatigue. Somehow he doubted she was faking it, though. With her fast-acting recovery, perhaps he could push her a little harder the next time they practiced. Maybe he could even have her try speaking a few words across the link. “Come on, Serix,” Cassie said as she tugged him to the robot hangar. “You can teach me now. Let’s go find something to tie our hands up with.” She laughed and shook her head. “That sounds so wrong.” “What?” Serix frowned. “It’s not that strange of a tradition. The dance was always my favorite part of the mating ceremony, and that’s only partly because the couples sometimes got themselves tangled up.” Serix waited while Cassie searched for something to bind their hands with. She eventually came up with an old cloth, which she held out for him to take. He inspected the material, holding it out in front of himself to estimate the length. It was a bit short compared to the Lunairans’ traditional white ropes, but he could make it work. The only problem was the width of the cloth. “I hope this isn’t important,” Serix said, taking the cloth between his teeth. He gave it a sharp tug and tore it slightly, and then used his hands to rip it along its length until he had two thin sheets. Only needing one, he set the other down on a nearby table. He wound the remaining cloth into something resembling a rope and tied one end around Cassie’s right hand. Next, he tied the other end to his left wrist. It took him a bit longer to do this since he could only make the knot with one hand, but he managed to do it on his own. “There,” Serix waggled his bound hand and the makeshift rope forced Cassie to follow his movement. “Now you’re really stuck with me.” He led her over to the music device and turned it on —he had watched her do it the first time and remembered which button to press— and held out his other hand to her. “Ready?”

Stand Alone(Summers and AHeartlessNobody)

An evil hottie B3

Ranting and Discussions?

I can understand where Boyinaband is coming from with his video, but I think he blew it out of proportion. Yes, there are plenty of things you will learn in school that you will never use in your working life, but they are not completely useless. You don't know what kind of career you're going to end up in when you graduate from school. Middle school and high school give you the basic knowledge you need in many different subjects to prepare you for college. Thus, you receive a well-rounded education to open up the doors to thousands of occupational opportunities in the future. As Durandal said, what is "important" depends on your own personal perspective. For example, you might think math is worthless and you'll never use it in life. Now, let's pretend schools let you choose your own classes. If you decided math isn't going to help you in life, you would exclude it from your curriculum. Now, your schedule is filled with classes you deemed as "important." There. Problem solved, right? Now, fast forward to the future when you're going into college. You decide you want to become an engineer because you like mechanics and the job pays extremely well. Unfortunately for you, you will be far behind in your education because you don't even have the basic mathematical skills you need to pursue this career. You might not even be able to catch up at this point. The door to engineering is closed to you forever because you made a poor decision when you were five years younger. Humans are extremely finicky by nature. I know this firsthand. Ever since my Freshman year of high school, I've changed my mind dozens of times. I wanted to be a Japanese teacher in America, an English teacher in Japan, a foreign ambassador, a Christian counselor, an interior designer, a musician, a composer, a conductor, ect... The list goes on. I'm only a Junior in high school now. Who knows what I'll want to major in by the time I graduate next year? If I had based my high school classes on what I thought was important at the time, I would be very poorly educated indeed. I started out Freshman year focused on languages, so I probably would have excluded math and science because they had nothing to do with being a Japanese/English teacher. Now, I'm starting to look into careers that require advanced math and some science. I'm thankful that my school has prepared me with the basics in both of these subjects. High school is a time to be prepared in many subjects. College is when you narrow down your options to the classes that interest you. In regards to being uneducated about the "real world," I agree that this is a problem in many schools. I can only suggest that you research your options at multiple different high schools and find one that can offer the classes you need. Government, economics, and self-reliance are all good classes to look for. History is also a good thing to study. As the saying goes: Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it. I'm fortunate enough to go to a school where all of the classes I just mentioned are required subjects. Students at my school cannot graduate without passing them, and so we all come out with the tools we need to survive in the world. We can handle our finances, take care of our health, fix a car, cook our own food, make educated decisions about voting, understand politics, and plenty more. As more of a side note, I'm very impressed that you're thinking about things like this as a middle school student. Most of the junior highers I know only care about what's going on directly in front of them. It's a relief to see there are young students out there who actually care about the state of their education. You've given me hope for the future, so thank you, haha! :)

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