The House of The Past - Idea

Seren/Megan/Erin/Bethan Matthews? Aron Connah/Conway/Coslett. Tŷ'r Gorffennol - House of Past. Tŷ'r Amser - House of Time. Wales.

 Seren Matthews is a normal, modern-day 19 year old girl studying photography at university. She lives in an apartment in the city and has just been gifted a car by her abroad dad. She has a mental Welsh-American-British family but she doesn't care, she's far away from them now, studying in England. Or so she thought. Her dad's business in America has become bankrupt and with that, Seren's university funding went down the drain. She needs money for a new camera to finish her course and her wacky Welsh-American Aunt Maggie and Uncle Rhys have agreed to pay it for her, as long as she goes on holiday to Wales with them to photograph everything as they rediscover the location of their Welsh family roots, before it's bulldozed for council houses.
 So she reluctantly agrees to go along, having no other choice, and they make their first stop in their family's "ancestral home" of Tŷ'r Gorffenol [tee gorf-ennol], an old estate that was renovated and modernised to be a holiday home/community lot to rent for parties and weddings. However due to its unpopularity the owners have sold it to the council and are renting it out at a much reduced price until that time in the hopes of getting some money.
 It takes them a while to get there, taking many wrong turns, and before they ascend up the hill to the house they decide to take a break in the village. As Seren's relatives stretch their legs and make a beeline for the first "quaint" post office they see, she catches the eye of and is winked at by a young, dark-haired guy crossing the road; not something that's happened to her very often.
 When they arrive Seren's Aunt and Uncle are enthusing over the place and puzzling over it's unpopularity while Seren's quiet 10 year old cousin, Caylie, (a stark contrast to her loud and boisterous parents) immediately slips off to her room. So left alone with her aunt and uncle, Seren is forced to be their obligatory photographer as they go around exploring the house and the grounds.
 At night when Seren's aunt and uncle were finally too exhausted to explore any more she leans out of the window in a moment of rare solitude. Though oddly shaped (curved at the bottom), her room is bigger than the one in her apartment and looks over onto the estate's grounds. Past the lake she notices an overhang of willow trees with an odd stick poking out of them, it's somewhere that her Uncle & Aunt oddly didn't go anywhere near so she makes a mental note to go there as soon as she gets a free moment, but that doesn't happen for awhile.
 Throughout having to tag along behind her Aunt and Uncle, her thoughts are preoccupied by the boy who for some reason picked on her to wink at, and a dull homesickness as all this countryside and beaches are so different to the city she's used to. She's chastised for not being more enthusiastic about discovering her ancestry but she finally gets an opportunity to investigate that stick while they go into the village/with the excuse of taking photos of the foliage.
 It takes her a while to get around the lake and to the exact same location, but eventually she finds it and discovers the stick is actually a rusty handrail. There are steps that go down to a small and seemingly pointless clearing in the trees that has a path between the bushes to lead back to the main gardens; but on the fifth step down she discovers that the steps also turn sharply to the right in a concealed gap in the bushes and go downwards in a spiral. She follows them down and as they still don't stop and get darker and darker, her ears pop halfway down and wonders if she's discovered a secret cellar. Eventually she comes to the bottom and emerges in a dimly lit circular room. Hearing muffled voices bickering, talking about something like "why did you let her in here? It's your job to keep people away!" she walks forward and as she passes through an invisible barrier of some kind the room suddenly floods with light and she's standing only a few feet away from the guy who winked at her the other day. "But I did!" Is the protest that Seren hears from the other participant in the conversation as the young man stands before her, frozen in an awkward smile of shock, amazement and a grimace as they look at eachother. He's dressed in some kind of clothing you'd expect to see in a Lord of The Rings movie and both are looking at eachother in abject horror, praying that they'll wake up from this nightmare any second now. He is the first to break and poorly tries to usher her off and persuade her it's a dream with: "Yes I'm the fairy king. You can't be here or the tooth fairy won't like you any more, now off you trot twinkle-toes! May fair, chubby youngsters be born to you and all your kin!" He tries to guide her back to the stairs but she dodges out of the way and looks between him and his short, portly friend who'd just emerged from another room, also dressed in fantasy-like clothes.
 "What the...Is this some kinky cult gathering I've just found or something?" She asks with a vacant smile verging on hysteria.
 "Yes that's exactly what it is. You'll wake up soon with nothing but a fair dusting of glitter on your brow sweet child, so out!" The young guy said, latching onto her thought path eagerly and again tries to push her towards the stairs. Seren is not sure whether she wants to try and resist or not and is stumbling forwards, almost at the invisible barrier again when they hear a booming voice coming up the hallway behind them.
 "It's the Viscount." The short, portly man said apologetically and the young guy spun around.
 "Shit!" He exclaimed in horror and looked despairingly at Seren. "Sorry, you're involved." He said to Seren, wrapped his arm around her waist and spun them around into an arched door frame built into the wall next to them.
 "Hey!" She was protesting then stopped dead in her tracks as instead of banging into the wall they'd emerged on the other side into a field that definitely wasn't her aunt and uncle's ancestral home. "Fairies don't say shit." She whispered weakly as she stared at the field and he laughed wryly.
 "Welcome to the real world, darlin'." He smiled with a sudden Welsh accent, realising that he couldn't get rid of her with the dream-façade now, and flung his arms out around him to indicate the "real world".
 "What...just happened?" She asked squeakily, frozen in place with shock, scared to move in case everything was vaccumed into a rabbit hole or something.
 "Portal, and not a big one at that. I'm surprised we managed to fit." He explained as if it was obvious and looked her figure up and down skeptically.
 They stood there in silence for a few moments and then he blew his cheeks out heavily.
 "I'm Aron Connah." He said with a smile and held his hand out to her, not expecting her to take it.
 She looked blankly at it for a moment. "Seren Matthews." She replied finally.
 "Seren. That's a pretty name."

Aron is a prince of his people, the fourth in-line, and Seren has unexpectedly managed to get through their blockades and spells to ward away people, and venture into a portal/door to their city, which is in a parallel universe. The eldest son is an evil one and about to inherit their recently deceased father's kingdom so Aron had just announced he's going on a mission to find his other six brothers so they can contest the eldest's rule and claim to the throne when Seren walks in. The portly man Aron was bickering with was his friend the portalkeeper who's responsible for the hiding and defence of the portal Seren walked into, somehow bypassing every defence he'd put up. The Viscount is the eldest prince's henchman and was chasing after Aron to stop him from getting away and finding the other princes. The portal Aron pulls her into leads to the home of one of the princes and he took her with him to prevent her being found by the Viscount.
 Aron spends most of the time going down to the house helplessly explaining the situation to her, and convincing her it isn't all a dream as he needs her to have her head about her if he's going to find and persuade his brother to join him. It's Seren who actually spots the brother.
 When it's over and they return home, Seren goes to bed claiming all the exploring, and manages to convince herself it was all a dream.

(Turn up the volume to hear the heartbeat)

A faded dull blue rental car cruised down the Severn bridge into South Wales. It was a sunny day by some miracle, and the heavy clouds that had followed them from the border had dispersed. The improvement in the weather had no affect on the mood of the passenger in the back seat however. She rested her chin on the arm she had propped on the window and sighed as the river flew by and progressed into lush roads and towns. It looked so strange, rolling hills and mountains and so much green in the bounds of a city. Where she came from, it's either a city or the countryside. No in-betweens. But then they weren't going to a city either, they were going to a small town where their "ancestral home" was being rented as a holiday home until it was demolished, apparently it hadn't gathered enough interest to be worth keeping.
 "Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run!" The American couple in the front screeched along to the track playing on the radio. The girl in the back cringed and sank further back into her seat.
 "Come on Seren, sing along!" The man driving called over the sound of the radio and the air rushing past the open window.
 "I don't sing." Seren replied hesitantly and drew her worn blue hoodie over her head.
 "Course you do," Her Uncle laughed. "Or you should with all that music you listen to!" He said and she glanced despairingly at her 11 year old cousin in the seat opposite her. Casie just looked back at her silently with wide, grey eyes from underneath her wispy blonde hair and Seren huffed in resignation. Getting a single syllable out of her was a miracle, getting support against her uncle would be impossible.
 "We'll be at uhhh, at...what was it again honey?" He asked his wife as she finished screeching in unison with Bruce Springsteen.
 "Tur

Hero of Kvatch - Elder Scrolls

Just posting because I wrote a fair bit.

I can't remember when so the publish date is just a guess.

I don't believe it. From being the finest upcoming archer in the Valenwood Guard to this, stuck in an Imperial cell for some goddamn Imperial bastard.
Ok technically I committed a crime.

Hearthfire 19th, 3E 433:
After I declined Jauffre's offer to join the Blades Vilja and I rode in silence to Bruma. Thankfully the story of Kvatch hadn't spread here yet so nobody recognized my cuirass. We went to stay in the Mages Guild overnight and I quickly changed into simple clothing so no one else in the Guild would get any ideas. Vilja went off chatting to J'Skarr while I paused and looked over Volanaro's sleeping body for a few moments. He woke when I brushed my hair away from his face and immediately pulled me down in giggles. X was out doing some pompous duties to the Countess for the day so we made, ah, ample use of her spacious double-sized bedroom... At Volanaro's insistence because my armour had been broken by the slices of a Dremora mace in Kvatch, I "borrowed" one of her spare brocades that rested off my shoulders and Vilja and I left in the morning at the break of dawn before anyone could guess why we'd been here or our involvement with Kvatch.
Hearthfire 20th:
We rode down to the Imperial City on our horses, the weather was clear and we got there by half past 3. "Come on, time to make some gold." I said to Vilja when she asked why we were going, not sure of my intentions. "That letter we got from Umbacano about the statues seems to have the potential for a fair reward. I want to get enough gold to offer to that Statue of Clavicus Vile. It'll be fun! He's only the Daedric Prince of wishes, if we don't make any major ones we should be fine. We need enough to buy weapons and supplies too, god knows we'll need it with these Gates to Oblivion emerging. Besides, we need somewhere to store all this junk." I said and gestured to the various weapons and items with value amassing on tthe horses' packs.
"An what about Jauffre? He said to go see someone about the amulet?" Vilja reminded me and my face darkened. A scrap of guilt passed through my conscience again but I ignored it.
 "Well that's their problem now, they're Blades, they're trained for this. Besides we need to get you that book!" I said brightly and Vilja wisely said nothing more about it, and leapt onto the discussion of her sister.
 The guards in the Imperial City had heard of Kvatch and, having known me before from getting Heironeous Lex, they recognized me instantly. Thankfully the house was near the main gate and Umbacano did indeed offer us a hefty price for getting more Ayleid Statues for him, double their worth, but the catch was he didn't know which ruins any of them were in.
 getting just one of the statues could take months as well as risking our lives so, disheartened, we went outside to find it was pouring down. We ran over to the Market District to buy Vilja's book and she estimated with our current gold, 400, we'd last about a month. Neither of us particularly wanted to do any more fighting or dungeon delving but with no one needing our aid, and I certainly wasn't about to trade our gear, we were doomed to be scavenging gypsies. Then as we were running through the rain towards the Merchants Inn I bumped into a beggar I was friendly with and had always tipped. The rumour of beggars being the Gray Fox's eyes and ears popped into my head and a note I'd gotten from a strange dunmer a while ago suddenly came back. After tipping her a bit more generously and sending a compliment her way she revealed with shifty eyes that if I wanted to find the Gray Fox, I should go to the Dareloth Gardens at the Waterfront around midnight. That was only hours away. Not bothering to rent a room in the Merchants Inn and unload our stuff, we started running from one side of the city to the other, the Waterfront was the poorest and where all the ships docked.
 It had stopped raining but a fierce gale was blowing up, and as we ran past the Temple it started throwing it down yet again. When we got there we still had an hour to pass so we stopped in the Blloated Float and met that Dunmer again. She said she only delivered the letters, not write therm, so I let it slide as it was nearing midnight. Vilja didn't want to get involved as she was still concerned with saving her sister, so I went alone. I jumped onto a low roof overlooking the garden's only entrance and waited. An Argonian beggar walked into the garden, surely that wasn't him, the Gray Fox is supposedly a male Imperial! I waited a bit longer and sure enough a Redguard with leather armour and a torch walked in with a leather-clad Bosmer following him - now this looked promising.
 I jumped down and introduced myself as having come here by a beggar, seeing as my jailbreak in Bruma was a planned one I wouldn't want to start with a false reputation. The Redguard introduced himself as Armand Cristophe, the doyen for the Gray Fox and member of the Thieves Guild. As it's unusual to have three other applicants he offered one of us the chance to join. Whoever gets the journal of Amantius Allectus, without killing or being seen, wins. He hinted that the beggars might be able to tell me where it is but Meredhel, the Bosmer, seems to be familiar with the competition as she's tried to enter before. Maybe she could make my trial easier, we are petitioning to be Thieves after all...

Hearthfire 22nd:
We raided the spells store in the Imperial City and left with our horses packed to the brim with stolen scrolls, we posed as travelling scholars. We closed an Oblivion gate up to Bruma and got the sigil stone in the nick of time, I only had one arrow left. When we got to Bruma it was already approaching evening and I sold all of the scrolls to Ongar, the fence, for a tidy sum of 200 gold.
Vilja needed to find a picture of a Shy Root of Hunger and we'd been advised by the Imperial City alchemist to ask around int the Mages Guilds' alchemists, so we paid Valandria a visit. She had the picture Vilja needed and decided to stay for the night until we continued on to the Imperial City to get this special job from Armand. However though I was expecting a warm welcome from the cheeky Volanaro -perhaps on the bed- we had our first arguement. He closed the dining room door in my face and later when he was forced to talk to me in the study room as we were alone, he complained about me never being here and how I never used magic, always "that pathetic bow and sticks". We ended up yelling and Volanaro even conjured a sword at the height of the fight. I stormed upstairs and as I angrily pulled on my leather gloves I told Vilja we were leaving. We spent the night at Olav's Tap and Tack and left in the morning. I vowed to myself that after the Imperial City we'd head to Anvil Mage's Guild (the one specialising in Restoration) and I'd study there, just to prove that foolish Altmer wrong.

Frostfall 5th:
I rooted out the spy in the Thieves Guild and am now to report to S'Kirrava in Leyawiin, as I've been advanced beyond Armand's legislation. I helped the Order of the Virtuous Blood track down a vampire whom I spared the life of, as he was a human framed by the real vampire, the leader hiself. Vilja fell ill so I had to take down the vampire cave myself, it wasn't easy but turned out to be very much worth it as the new leader gives me 250 gold for every vampire dust I give him. I have enough to start anew in Leyawiin now as that's unquestionably where I'll go, both the Mages and Thieves Guilds require me to go down there to advance.
 When she recovered Vilja persuaded me to go and see Baurus in Green Emporer Way like Jauffre asked. He'd been tracking down Mythic Dawn agents in the Iperial City and I found a book called the 'Xarxes Commandments Volume 1' on the body of the agent who attacked him in the inn basement. Baurus asked me too take the book to an expert in the Arcane University and I did, but that's it.
 I closed the Oblivion Gate near the Waterfront too, surely that'll be enough for them. I want no more of this, the Kvatch Cuirass stays locked away in my home/shock along with the 'Xarxes Commandments' 1 & 2, we're going to Leyawiin, our normal armour is repaired and I don't want to be noticed again. Hopefully as it's so distant from Kvatch and the Imperial City, nobody will notice.

The God That Forgot

Loki On Asgard.

Loki is one of several powerful beings from the realm of Asgard, who have been worshipped, and known as on Earth, as gods. Even though they are really just an alien race. Many years ago Odin, the ruler of the Asgardian gods, led his subjects in a war against their enemy, the frost giants. The giants were defeated. Surveying the spoils of war, the Asgardians discovered a small Asgardian god-sized baby hidden at the giants' main fortress. The infant was Loki, whom the frost giant king had kept hidden due to his shame over his son's diminutive size. Odin remembered his own father's dying words to adopt the son of a father killed by his hands; so Odin adopted Loki into his own family, raising Loki like a son along with his biological son, Thor, and keeping his real heritage a secret from him.

 Always second best to his older brother and though possessing physical attributes equal to a fit average member of the race of super-beings, the Asgardians, such as enhanced strength; stamina, speed, durability, (his Frost Giant metabolism grants him superhuman levels of physical stamina in practically all activities); he never equalled to the strength, tenacity and bravery of Thor and forever resented him for the love their father lavished upon Thor. And so he relentlessly tried to undermine and gain the upper hand over his older brother, gaining the nickname "The God of Mischief" but as they grew older that mischievousness turned into malice as his lust for power and revenge became stronger. And always Thor tried to stop him, though always reluctant to harm his little brother. [Note, I have yet to see Thor the film so I'm not exact on the relationship between them]
 Aside from his superior sorcery abilities and the ability to manifest and manipulate ice, Loki possesses a brilliant intellect, charisma and underneath the steely cold veneer of his trickster charm is a certain vulnerability and sensitivity – the wounded fragility of an outcast brother and son. However, his arrogance, his passionate hatred of Thor, and all-consuming lust for power greatly impeded his ability to bring his well-laid plans to fruition. He is an expert manipulator and schemer, is usually armed with throwing knives, a sword, or a curved, two-pronged staff and has used magical items to enhance his powers.

It's been 7 months after the events of The Avengers, when Loki's plot to take over Earth with/for the Frost Giants was foiled and he was taken back to Asgard by Thor, and the rest of the Avengers went back to their "ordinary" lives until such a time that they were needed to assemble once more.
 Though the Avengers were taking a break in the absence of crisis, work on the SHIELD helicarrier never ceased. Their personal and primary technician, systems engineer, tech guru or whatever you want to call it was certainly not one to rest either. It's her job to attend to and upgrade the weapons and defence systems/tools of SHIELD and the arsenal of the Avengers themselves, or any other SHIELD agents. She takes a lot of stick from the geniuses [namely Tony Stark - Iron Man and Bruce Banner - The Hulk] when they waltz in with their skepticism over the tech they'll use to save the world, but for the most part she gets along with the Avengers greatly and follows their ventures and progress eagerly, secretly gleeful that she's the one who's partially responsible for their success.
 Her name is Sarah Brett, she's 26 and the call of "Breeeeett!" is commonly heard in the SHIELD helicarrier control room when Tony Stark or any of the other Avengers need to compare notes with her, get something fixed or pretty much anything to do with their arsenal or armour. With straight, flyaway brown hair with remnants of past blonde streaks she couldn't be bothered to replenish, honey-gold light blue eyes and a cheeky grin, she isn't the sultry femme fatale that Avenger Natasha Romanova is but she still gets some playful teases from fellow SHIELD crew members - after all, who can resist a cute, snappy, nerdy gal? Despite this she's actually quite shy, and find's Captain America's old-school [he's from WW2] manners and polite ways with her to be quite sweet. But just because she's inwardly shy doesn't mean she can't hold her own in a match of witty banter, or have outbursts of bravery and confidence in what she does, hence her ability to ward off, and firm friendship with, Tony Stark.

The Curtain Falls

Every story has a hero, every rebellion has a leader, every martyr has a face. What do you do when they're dead?

20th of July, 2468. The city of Piori/Saimeru/? has been the capital of technological advancement in the world for decades. With over 36 million inhabitants it's also one of the largest, and most sought-after megapolis cities remaining in the world.  Countless skyscrapers litter the city, the shiniest and most expensive centred in the middle of the city and looking out on the coastline, while the squatter and grubbier apartments and industrial towers make up everywhere else. Bridges and covered walkways make up a maze between them all and to see a one-storey building is rare, but they do exist on the edges of the city and scattered on the ground, usually in the form of old warehouses. Though the south sector is grim and dark, and the west isn't much better, the centre is a sprawling picturesque place of greenery, technology, glass and cleanliness.

The Family

Started on 26/1/2013 this is a story I never finished or likely ever will, probably because I'm not too good at thinking up modern-day baddies xD Basically I was thinking that the bad guys were going to turn out to be a family of criminals who were trying to create a family of perfectly-gened people, or something like that... On with the story!


A portly and slightly grubby man tried desperately to tie down his fruit stall's canvas roof as the brisk late morning New York wind tried just as hard to take it from him. He scowled and grumbled to himself as an FBI agent ran past him and accidentally loosened the canvas just as he tied it. They had blocked off the street where his stall was located and emptied it in a matter of minutes. They'd tried to clear him out too, he refused, they decided he wasn't worth it.
 "Late." He grunted to the driver of a blue transit van that had just pulled up in front of the stall.
 "Morning Gary, got much business today?" The young driver asked as he hopped out of the van and motioned to the empty street.
 "Don't smart mouth me kid. You got a delivery? Deliver it." Gary growled and the driver backed away with his hands raised.
 "Alright alright." The driver said and hammered his fist on the side of the van. "Jimmy you heard the man, get out and do as your daddy says."
 "Yes Frank." A spotty teenage boy mumbled and half fell out of the passenger seat.
Jimmy ambled forward to open the back of the van and started to unload the fruit crates, under Gary's supervision.
 "You're lucky they let us through actually, they've got the place surrounded." Said Frankie who was casually leaning against the van. "Looks like they might be onto something about those attacks, I've never seen so many feds." He continued and nodded to the swarming police over his shoulder, who had now surrounded a large glass high-rise apartment across the road.
Gary just grunted at the blaring lights of the police cars and picked up another crate from the van.
 "How'd you get past them then?" Gary asked suspiciously.
 "I know someone in the force." Frank said vaguely and smiled to himself.
 "You know too many people for your own good." Gary grumbled and frowned curiously at Jimmy who was sweating profusely and glancing nervously at the cops.
 "Hey, you should be grateful I'm doing this favour for you, I've got a pal down in the maf who'd pay-" Frank protested and staggered back as he was cut off by a cop barrelling past him.
 "What the-?" Gary exclaimed as he almost dropped his crate.
 "Agent Curtis is down. I repeat, Agent Curtis is down." The cop called urgently into his radio with a clear British accent.
 "Christ he's SIS," Frank exclaimed and brushed himself off. "What's the British secret service doing working with the FBI?" He wondered as they watched the agent run up the street, weaving between abandoned cars and FBI vehicles to the apartment.
 "Don't know and don't care." Gary grumbled. "They bring nothing but trouble, always do. Sooner they go, the better." He finished and eyed a troop of agents that ran past as he stacked a row of crates against the wall.
 "What is up with you today son?" He barked at Jimmy who had nearly dropped his crate while trying to hide his face in his hood as the agents went past.
 "You're unloading fruit not class A drugs." Frank chuckled and took out his iPhone to play on it. Jimmy just laughed weakly and wiped the sweat off his brow with a shaky hand.

The Lawless Jedi II: The Original Trilogy

The 17 Years:

(There is a 17 year gap between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, though skipped by the films that gap has been somewhat filmed by the comic-book and TV series/game side of the Star Wars franchise, and so with those pictures and information, I will try to fill that gap with Allana's story during that time too, though naturally a couple of years will be vaguely brushed aside. ;)

I will start with this song as down to the very last word, this is Allana and Obi-Wan's theme:

In a galaxy far far away the Galactic Republic has been replaced by the Galactic Empire, ruled by the Sith Lord Palpatine, now known simply as "The Emperor" and his right-hand man and apprentice, Darth Vader.
 Many people under the new Empire enthusiastically supported the vision outlined in Palpatine's Declaration of a New Order, largely due to the relief of the violence that had plagued the galaxy for so long. Many Senators wholeheartedly supported the new government while a number of more cautious senators chose to watch and wait to see how the new government would handle the affairs of state. It promised to trade frailty for strength, chaos for order, and uncertainty for decisiveness. In retrospect, the foundation of the Empire had already been set down during Palpatine's chancellorship and all potential threats eliminated; therefore, the transition from Republic to Empire was relatively smooth.
 It is important to note that not all of the Senators liked what they saw. In fact, the Petition of 2000 Senators sought to bring the worries of these Senators to Palpatine. This petition was led by Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and the late Padmé Amidala. Palpatine's dismissal of their concerns was one factor that led Organa and Mothma to help found the Alliance to Restore the Republic in later years.

With the rise of the Empire, all the institutions of the old Republic found themselves either dismantled or modified beyond recognition. There was a riot of renaming all things "Imperial" to glorify the new Emperor: overnight, the Coruscant sector was renamed the Imperial Sector, Coruscant itself was renamed Imperial Center, and Galactic City was renamed Imperial City. The Galactic Senate became the Imperial Senate. The Grand Army of the Republic became the Imperial Army and the Clone Troopers also were renamed Stormtroopers, and so on. Within days, there were few names left to remind the people that there had ever been a Galactic Republic.

A Place in the Sun

In the summer of '94 the trees of a large French garden sway slightly in the weak breeze, barely anything in the 30c summer heat. The garden extends down to overlook the vast fields behind it and is bordered by a 7ft cream-stoned wall on the east side, behind a shadowed copse of tall trees, and fades into a hedge at the bottom. In this shadowed copse a man creeps along with a handheld video camera; it's the best one available of course, he didn't even blink when he saw the price tag. He's tall but crouches down and tries to stay hidden amongst the trees. Through the eye of the camera he films and follows two children playing in the garden as their mother watches from the veranda. They're brother and sister, 3 years between them. The girl has thick caramel blonde hair like her mother while the boy has a darker brown mop of hair that he's constantly brushes out of his eyes. They chase eachother down the garden, both vying for the ownership of a ball their father gave them, and the silent observer smiles as their laughter reaches the video camera. They pass him and stop a few feet away, both trying to guess which direction the other will go in, and the man tries to creep closer in hopes of getting a clearer shot.
 "You don't even like football!" The boy says desperately to his sister as he fails yet again to get the ball from her.
 "I like volleyball." The girl answers as she nimbly twists out of his way yet again.
 "Doesn't count, when do you ever see a volleyball match on T.V?!" The boy protests.
 "It does in America." The girl retorts. She sticks her tongue out at him with a grin and the man laughs quietly to himself at the 6 year old's sharp mind.
 "Here, catch!" The girl says to her brother, finally deciding to take pity on him and share the ball. She's about to throw it when a sharp snap! comes from the trees and the children spin around with wide eyes.
 The man curses and the video footage goes wild as he lost his balance on a twig and tries to regain it. He tries to retreat into the bushes but it's too late, he's been detected. The video camera swings back from the clear blue sky again to catch the sharp green eyes of the girl just as they latch onto the figure of the man in the trees. Her eyes widen and she gasps, nudges her brother and his baby blue eyes lock onto the same position as hers. Somehow, as only siblings can, they understood eachother immediately and begin to count to three.
 Their mother frowns in concern as, ball long forgotten, the children creep towards the trees and suddenly, on the count of three, they launch on top of the man in thee trees.
 "Daddy!" They scream with grins firmly plastered on their faces and they tickle him relentlessly. Despite his height their father cannot free himself of the little monkeys, and only just manages to peel them off long enough to stumble out into the open with the video camera, before they launch themselves on him again and they fall on to the grass in a large, limbs-sprawling, giggling heap. The father still cannot break away from his children and he finally surrenders to them with a laugh and they sit up breathlessly.
 "Mummy said you'd only get here next week!" The girl exclaims in joy as she clambers onto his lap.
 "I thought I'd surprise you." He explains and smiles wistfully at his children for a moment. "Well? Did I surprise you?" He suddenly demands and tackles them down to the ground again with a wicked grin.
 "Yes!" They squeal in joy and he pulls them up again after tickling them. He sighs happily and kneels on one knee in front of them to get to their height. They look at him adoringly, the traces of laughter still lingering on their young faces, and he pulls them both to him in a bear-hug.
 "Have you been good for your mother?" He asks and both mumble their yesses into his shoulders, their faces smushed against him.
 "Good." He says and kisses the tops of their heads, squeezing them even tighter for a second before letting them go. "Now lets have the best summer ever." He says to them with a grin and they walk towards the house with his arms around their shoulders.
 "But you said that last year. How can this year be "better" if last year was the best?" His daughter asks sceptically and her father playfully clips her over the ear.
 "Because it will, cheeky." He says fondly and turns to his son as their mother comes down to join them. "Matt, how's the football coming along?"
 "It's okay, I prefer martial arts now though, like your old fighting tapes! Anna has an awesome high-kick though!" He says enthusiastically and his sister holds her head up smugly.
 "Well that's fine, sure. But you don't always have to follow what I do you know." Their father says but the train of conversation is lost as their mother comes up to them. "Maria." He smiles cautiously as he greets her and Maria smiles down at her children.
 "No, you never have to follow your father." She says to them.
 "But daddy kicks butt." Anna says with utter surety and her parents laugh awkwardly.
 "Neil, a word?" Maria says tightly to her husband.
 "Sure...you two wait here while I talk to mummy, ok?" Neil says to Matt and Anna. "When I get back we'll go and see what car Harold got for me this time, okay?" He says and walks with his hands in his pockets towards the house with Maria, a smile playing on his face as Matt fist-pumps the air with a growly "YEEESSS!" and Anna puts her hands in the air like she just scored a goal.
 "I bet it's a Boxter!" Matt calls after his father as he jogs up the stairs to the veranda. Neil wobbles his palm in the air as an "almost".
 "A Lamborghini?" Anna shouts and they watch with bated breath as he goes to follow their mother through the thick, reinforced glass door to the house. As he steps in the doorway he puts his hand in the air, wobbles, and sticks his thumb in the air. Anna screams in victory and the siblings jump up in the air in excitement.
 Their laughter echoes back on the video camera that's still filming, laying on it's side further down the garden, capturing the last moments of happiness that father and child will cherish forever.

The summer home, "Lily" as we called it, due to the amount of lilies in the gardens, was as confined as it was expansive. The back garden was entirely fenced off behind the hedge, and on both sides the garden had a 7ft wall that connected to the house, no gaps. The security-system was the best available, dad never cared about costs, not with his career, and there's no area of the house it didn't reach, and all the recordings were sent to a private server in dad's office, and when he wasn't there his partner François Huse who was stationed nearby, always checked in on us every 2 days.
 But we didn't care about all that, all we cared about was that we were all together, we had our dad back home for a few weeks and we would have "the best summer ever" every year, and it was our place in the sun.

http://youtu.be/W8lVPMWLCBQ?t=10s

Siren

Left to right: The Hulk, Hawkeye, Maria, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Captain America, Natasha Romanoff and Thor.

The Siren:

Sarah Liam always loved hero stories. Her mother, Rosa De Crocetti, used to read them to her when she was little. Every single night, no disruptions, not even if she was ill or if her father had lost his temper, again. Their favourites were the Greek and Norse myths, so full of fantasy, chivalry, story and mystery, they were a world away from their reality.
 Born to a powerful French drug businessman idealist and his Italian lover who he "rescued" from a small village, Sarita De Crocetti, as she was born, always seemed to have a calming influence on all who went near her. It was a mediocre power that nobody even considered to be one, it was just a natural aura the charming little girl had. And boy did she need it in that chaotic home. They lived in a large French villa and never lacked for anything, Jean Liam's career certainly made sure of that. He was... cocky and short-tempered to say the least but Rosa doted on her daughter, and that was all little Sarita needed.
 However Jean had an obsession with the drugs industry he worked for, he was sure that drugs were all the power anyone needed to rule the world, if you just enhanced the right qualities instead of wasting it on euphoric pleasures. He was also sure that his ideals and opinions were the right ones, he encouraged the strife other nations caused by making a bid for power but always snorted and despairingly pointed out the flaws and weaknesses in them when they stopped, either having been defeated or got what they wanted. As for the Nazis, he admired their sudden domination but disparaged/disregarded their loss of it and "irrational" ideals, he's sure he could have done it much better, and made the world more efficient for it.
 Though he intended to only use it for profit, Jean's obsession with this idea grew over the years, his love of Rosa often held him in check but then one day with his scientist business partner, Michael Verone, he actually found a way to do it. To pick out a certain attribute in a human, and enhance it. They'd found the remnants of notes on the enhancement serum used on Captain America in WW2 and they kept it as a secret project between them. At first Jean simply intended to sell it to the highest bidder and make his family rich and revered for years to come, but as time went by the experiments were still unsuccessful and his obsession with it grew and grew. They couldn't understand it, the serum was theoretically perfect but it still failed to work on the volunteer experimentees, or resulted in making the targeted attribute weaker. They needed to test it someone with a stronger attribute, something rare and extraordinary that they could actually enhance. Then one day Jean heard someone commenting on the unusual calming aura of his 4 year old daughter, and it clicked. He was obsessed beyond rational thought for a result, and besides he reasoned that the serum would not harm her, he would only be giving her a gift, even if it did work. So, without telling Rosa, Jean gave Sarita an injection one day on the staircase, claiming it was just a vaccination and that it'd be ok, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead as the needle went in and giving her a plaster to cover the pin-prick. Sarita was unharmed by it, and her "power" was indeed enhanced, she could influence the mood of anyone around her. Jean saw it as nothing but a little party trick of no significant power, Sarita was only 4 anyway, but it was finally a success! He and Michael celebrated over it that night and parted ways, both agreeing to wait until the world was at it's most dire until they came forward with the serum, so that they might get the biggest possible offer and recognition.