Karina Ariev Is Back Home

Agam Berger’s journey

“It must be beautiful when you see the sky span out in front of you when you fly,” the civilian said, their eyes wide with wonder and awe. 

The hero smiled. “It is. Would you like to see?” 

COMPLIMENT IDEAS #2

Here’s some more compliment based dialogue to use in your writing: 

“I love that color on you”

“You make me feel at home”

“I’ve never seen eyes the same color as yours”

“You look so cute when you laugh”

“Has anyone ever told you you have really nice hands?”

“I’m not going if you’re not going, it wouldn’t be fun without you”

“How is your skin always so soft?”

“Whoa I didn’t know you could sing”

“You have a great sense of humor”

“I thought you said you can’t dance?”

“I appreciate you”

“Your breath smells really good”

“I’m so lucky to have you”

“You always have great ideas”

“I trust your opinion”

“I would never doubt you”

“You’re so clever”

“I’m rooting for you”

“You always know exactly what to say”

“I feel like I’ve known you forever”

Hi! I absolutely love your writing! It's beautiful! I was wondering if you could write one where the villain crashes a Hero's party? That would be splendid! Thank you!

“You…you can’t be here,” the hero mumbled. 

“You’re drunk.” The villain’s head tilted. “Happy Birthday.” 

The hero blinked up at them, uncertainly. Their mind was stuck somewhere between ‘what the hell are you doing here?’ and ‘why the hell are you so beautiful?’ 

“How come you’re skulking outside at your own party?” 

“How come you’re skulking outside my party?” the hero pointed an accusing finger. “You better not be planning something. Wait. Did you say ‘happy birthday?’”

“I got you something,” the villain said. 

The hero shot to their feet, eyes wide, expecting a bomb or something horrible and - 

“What’s wrong with the chocolates? Have you poisoned the chocolates?” 

“I would have to be truly evil to poison the chocolate,” the villain said solemnly. There was a hint of a smile on their lips. 

“You’re mocking me.” 

“I wouldn’t dare.” The smile was even bigger now. 

The hero accepted the box of chocolate, with a wary brand of touched. They smelled delicious. They ripped the ribbon off and stuffed one in their mouth. 

The villain raised their brows. 

The hero offered them one. 

The villain took it, before sitting down on the back garden patio next to them. The sounds of the party, warm light, filtered through the windows. Music thumped. 

“The - the person I like,” the hero said. “They like someone else. Got together. Kissing.”

“That sucks.” 

“What’s your excuse for lurking in my garden?” 

The villain shrugged and took another chocolate. 

“…do you want to come in?”

“No. That would ruin my reputation as a gate crasher.”

“Just come in. You can be my bad decision for the night.” 

“Flatterer.”

The hero glanced over at them. It was a poor idea, but the villain was - well, the hero knew they weren’t that bad. At least not all the time. They seemed softer tonight. And they gave the hero potentially evil chocolates. And the hero’s chest hurt because they’d thought - they’d thought - 

They turned and kissed the villain, hot and clumsy. 

The villain froze.

The hero cleared their throat. “Thank you for the chocolates.” They stood. “Come inside. At least then I can keep an eye on you.”

The villain followed. 

It occurred to the hero, later, that perhaps the villain had just wanted one night to belong. To be another ordinary teenager. To not be what they were. 

One night. 

After that, everything went back to normal.

CW for implied underage drinking

Forty minutes into the party the hero disappeared. The villain found them alone on the back porch, surrounded by other people's discarded red cups and cigarette butts, staring up at the moonless sky. They did not turn, even as the villain slid the door shut with a whoosh and a click on the noise of the house party.

"These people are weird," the villain said.

The hero laughed, but hollowly. "I'm pretty sure it's you and me that are the weird ones here."

"Oh no," the villain said, leaning against the railing beside them. "I've checked it out thoroughly. We're the normal ones. Everyone else is strange."

The hero glanced back. "I was wondering when you'd come looking for me," they said softly.

"You could have found me," the villain protested.

They shifted, letting their shoulder just brush the hero's sleeve. Once the hero would have tossed the villain 30 feet for daring to come so close. Now they didn't so much as flinch, eyes locked on the sky.

The villain shrugged.

"Do you miss it?" the hero whispered. "Flying?"

"Don't bitch to me about it," the villain said, with more snap than they'd intended. They took a swig from the bottle of something they'd picked up inside. It was awful, just like everything else. "This is the world your boss made. No more powers. No more battles. You and me, free to be normal teenagers."

The hero looked down. "He wouldn't have done it if your boss hadn't murdered me."

The villain choked mid-sip. The hero gave them a sideways glance. "You didn't know? I mean, maybe I flatter myself, but it was the last thing I remember before everything changed. What it felt like to die."

"Shit," the villain said weakly, for lack of anything better to say. "Huh. Congrats on having the universe rewritten to bring you back?"

"Thanks, I hate it." The hero took the bottle, took a swig and gasped. "That's foul," they sputtered, wiping their mouth. "Speaking of bosses, you seen yours?"

"No. Well, yeah. Sort of." The villain grabbed the bottle back. "She's some kinda CEO now. Said I'm worthless to her now, she has no time for sniveling children, blah blah blah. Normal stuff. You?"

The hero shook their head. "He might be hiding. Or. He might. Be gone," they said, voice disjointed and jumbled. "There was a reason he didn't rewrite the universe everyday."

Silence fell between them. Inside, a new song had come on and the other kids were screaming along to the chorus. Something about being a teenage dirtbag, baby.

The hero looked over to the villain, tears in their all-too-human eyes. "I'm not going after her. If that's what she sent you to find out. I'm not gonna try and arrest her or attack her for killing me in an alternate timeline." They raised their hands, laughed again. "What could I possibly do now?"

"Hm. Well, finance undergrad, law school, government service, take over the SEC, give it teeth, and then in just 15 years you're primed to use teeth to rip your enemies apart where it hurts- their bank accounts," said the villain promptly. "Just to spit ball it out there."

The hero looked at them - actually looked at them - for the first time. "Oh damn," they said. "You hit the ground running."

The villain leaned in again, dropping a hand over the hero's. Sort of to hold them in place. Sort of just to hold them. "Join me. Or don't. We can make this, like, normal teenagers hating each other if you're more comfortable than that. We can fist fight right here."

The hero looked at the villain like they'd lost their mind, tried to pull away. "What is wrong with you?"

"Same thing that's wrong with you." The villain held on. "You're the only other one who remembers what we were, what we did. I don't want to be alone. And, God, you died? Do you want to go somewhere talk?"

The hero looked down at the protagonist's hand on their theirs. "Yes," they said, in a high, broken whisper. "Let's get out of here."

After that they were inseparable. At least, until the world changed again.

Arbel's drawing is based on

at this point I should just make a side blog shouldn't I-

All Hamas has to do is return the hostages and then they'll get back the electricity and water and food that Israel doesn't even owe them, but no, the hostages are more important

Hero opened their eyes blearily, wincing as the bright light irritated their eyes.  They squinted, glancing around the room.  They had no idea where they were.  It looked like some sort of holding cell.  Had they been kidnapped?

“Finally awake, are we?” someone asked.  Hero groaned, rolling their eyes when they saw Supervillain standing in the corner of the room, arms folded and looking incredibly satisfied.  They pushed off the wall and walked over.  Hero felt their heart beating faster as Supervillain got closer, until they were only a couple feet away.  Hero wasn’t quite sure what to say, so they stayed silent.  The metallic tang of blood was present in their mouth, and they faintly recognized a couple drops of blood dripping out of their mouth and down their face.  They spit it out onto the floor and looked back up at Supervillain.  Supervillain was staring at them with amusement.  

“You’re quite interesting, you know that?” Supervillain chuckled.  Hero rolled their eyes, ignoring how their heart was beating out of their chest.

“I’m sure,” Hero snapped, trying to wiggle out of their bonds.  The rope rubbed harshly against their skin, and they tried to hide a wince.  Supervillain didn’t notice, preoccupied with pacing around the cell dramatically.

“Can’t wait for Villain to get here,” Supervillain grinned.  “That’s when the fun really begins,” they continued.  Hero squinted at them, confused.

“Why Villain?” they blurted out, their curiosity getting the best of them.  Supervillain’s eyes widened, and they laughed harshly.

“You have no clue, do you?” Supervillain shook their head, circling behind them leisurely.  Hero hissed as Supervillain flung their hand out and yanked Hero’s head backwards.  Supervillain’s fingers dug into their scalp, and they grimaced.

“Well, this won’t do.” Supervillain’s eyes furrowed.  Hero closed their eyes, willing themselves to pass out or fall unconscious or-

“No, no, none of that-” Supervillain shook their head, resuming to drone on about Villain and their insolence.  Hero tried to ignore them, but their voice was so goddamn annoying-

“Stop,” they seethed.  “Please just stop talking, you’re giving me a headache,” Hero muttered.  Supervillain’s face darkened, their pacing growing more rushed.

“Where is that son of a bitch?” Supervillain groaned in annoyance, stopping their pacing to stand right in front of Hero.  Hero looked down at the ground, not willing to make eye contact.  

“How am I supposed to know?” Hero snapped.  A dark look came over Supervillain’s face, and Hero barely had time to regret their actins before Supervillain struck them in the face.  Hero’s cheek was tingling, and there was even more blood in their mouth.  They leaned their head down to the ground, spitting blood all over Supervillain’s shoes.   Hero sat back up, breathing heavily but with a satisfied smirk on their face.  Screw you, Supervillain.

“You’re quite entertaining.  Maybe I’ll just keep you for myself…” they whispered.  Oh no.  That didn’t sound good.  Hero gritted their teeth, trying to move as far away as their bonds would allow.  Supervillain noticed and grabbed their hair, yanking their head up to face them.  “Quite easy on the eyes too,” they remarked in contemplation, wiping the blood off of Hero’s face.  Hero felt their heart begin to race as Supervillain got closer and closer.  Supervillain was about an inch from their face when a loud bang resounded through the room.

“Get away from Hero, you slimy bastard.”

Hero glanced up dizzily.  A lean figure was standing in the doorway, head down and a dagger in their hand.  The figure stepped forward, and Hero’s eyes widened.  It was.. Villain.

Villain’s gaze was locked onto them, a strange look on their face.  It almost looked like… concern?  Hero watched as Villain began to connect the dots, eyes darting between Supervillain and Hero.  They stepped closer, and the hand in Hero’s hair tightened.

Supervillain ignored Villain, and was looking down at Hero.  “Looks like someone’s here to rescue you!” Supervillain grinned mockingly, dragging a finger down their cheekbone.  Hero fidgeted, desperate to increase the distance between them.  “Isn’t that cute?” Supervillain continued, looking them up and down in a predatory way that made Hero want to throw up.

“Don’t touch them,” Villain seethed, a vein popping out in their neck.  Hero couldn’t help but feel a bit confused. Why was Villain of all people, here to rescue them?  It didn’t make sense.  

Hero was torn out of their thoughts as Supervillain leaned closer to them, a devious smirk on their face.  Hero closed their eyes, their heart jackhammering out of their chest.

“I told you not to touch them,” 

Hero felt a faint breeze blow by them, and whipped their head to the side.  They watched as Villain’s dagger embedded itself into Supervillain’s chest.  Supervillain grimaced before they crumpled to the ground, their skin turning sallow and their eyes glazing over.  Hero let out a sigh of relief, before remembering who their savior was.  They looked over at Villain, who was staring at Supervillain with an unreadable expression on their face.

“You alright?” Villain asked, eyes flicking over their figure in search of injuries.  They crouched down, untying the ropes around Hero’s ankles..  Hero bit their lip, watching as Villain fiddled with their bonds.  

“Yeah, I just feel… weird,” Hero admitted, getting up from the chair once Villain freed them.  They stumbled a bit, grabbing the closest thing- Villain’s shoulder.   Villain grabbed them quickly, preventing them from falling to the floor.  Hero shot them a grateful smile and pushed their arm off of Villain’s, intending to walk on their own.  Villain sighed loudly, grabbing Hero’s arm and wrapping it around their shoulder.

“You and your hero complex,” they snorted, leading Hero out of the room slowly.  Hero grimaced, bracing themselves against the wall as they tried to regain their breath.  They looked behind them, frowning when they realized they had only walked a couple feet.  

“Hey, I think that-” Hero could hardly finish their sentence before they felt Villain tilt them back and wrap an arm under their knees, twisting them so that they were in Villain’s arms.  Hero looked up at Villain, squinting at them.

“You could’ve given me a warning-” Hero started, faltering as Villain began to glare at them.  “What?” they snapped.

“Just shut up and let me carry you,” Villain hissed, looking pointedly ahead.  They tightened their hold, and Hero gave in, leaning their head against Villain’s chest and closing their eyes.