Pink and Black

A cheerleader and a goth become exaggerated versions of each other through a weird Facebook quiz. Mature.

'Find out what your Friends think about You! Stephanie Madison took this Quiz!'

Amber didn't use Facebook much, but she had an account because everyone did. Her phone had pinged when she got the email notification, which had taken her to Facebook, where she saw the ad for some quiz app. Stephanie, huh?

Amber wiggled her black-nailed thumb over the link, thinking about whether to do it. It couldn't hurt, and to be honest, she was interested in finding out what Stephanie thought of her these days. Back in middle school, they had been tighter friends, but it seemed so much easier to be friends when they were young. They had hung out, played in the yard, done sleepovers; typical little kid friend stuff.

Once they'd gotten to high school, Amber had followed her interests into alternative music, cheesy vampire novels, and finding the darkest clothes her mom would buy her. Stephanie had gone off and gotten all athletic, and by now, in her senior year, she was on the cheerleading team. So it made sense that they didn't hang out a whole lot, but they had been good friends before, so...

Ah, what the hell. Might as well give it a shot.

---

'Find out what your Friends think about You! Amber Lee Knowles took this Quiz!'

Stephanie had assumed the ring from her phone was another update from one of her group chats, but instead it was a message from Amber. Amber? Wow, she had barely even talked to her in years. Maybe she wanted to reconnect during their last year of school together?

The mirror on Stephanie's closet door caught her reflection as she glanced up and fixed her hair, then leaned on her elbows and took a look at Amber's profile. Stephanie herself was pretty close to your standard-issue, small-town cheerleader, with a figure she kept slim through daily gymnastics and cardio, and naturally wheat-blonde hair. There on the screen was Amber's profile photo, trying to look dark and mysterious, with heavy eyeliner, and her straight black hair draped over one eye. Amber's hair was natural, too—she was half-Korean on her mother's side.

Sure, they did look different, but Stephanie did her best to not let looks influence who she was friends with. She and Amber hadn't talked much, but she wasn't going to shun an old friend just cause she was a bit goth now.

Stephanie hit the button and started answering the questions the quiz asked about Amber.

Stacked

The library patrons seem a bit bubbly today, but then so does the librarian on staff. Mature.

Alice's strangest day as a library clerk started when Tiffany walked in. Alice knew her from school, but they had never really met. Tiffany was popular and pretty and blonde—most of the things that Alice wasn't. Seeing Tiffany brought back all of Alice's high-school inadequacies. Alice was mousey and wore glasses and couldn't get her dark brown hair to do anything other than frizz, no matter how much she spent on shampoo.

Alice stowed the fantasy novel she'd been reading behind the desk. She looked up at Tiffany and found herself staring at Tiffany's hair. She had dyed it black, like The-Raven-is-my-favorite-poem black. Alice wasn't one to judge, but Tiffany was the last girl she'd expect to dye her hair. There was a little furrow in Tiffany's brow and she glanced around uncertainly.

"Hi, welcome to the library," Alice said. She seized the opportunity to be the confident one for once. "Anything I can help you find?"

"Um, yeah," Tiffany said. Her voice hid in the back of her mouth. "Do you have books about…ghosts and stuff?"

B-Day

Your sorceress girlfriend has turned you into a girl and left you your choice of gifts. A short text adventure CYOA. Mature.

Click here to play the game. (Runs in-browser.)

Heart's Desire [Illustrated]

Three friends play a fortune-telling game to grant their hearts' desire, but is it really giving them what they want? Explicit.

Cole stood beside the cabinet, like he was presenting it to them. "It's like a fortune telling game, but it's got special rules to it. You play it with a bunch of people, you get one fortune per day, and the first person to get to five 'blessings' wins."

"Wins what?" Tricia asked.

Cole pointed to one of the rules. "Your heart's desire."

Alex made a soft snort. Cole grinned. Tricia was starting to smile too. It was a cheesy old game.

"So, want to give it a shot?" Cole asked.

"That's what we're here for," Alex said. Even if it was silly, it was something they could all play together.

Alex stood up, fished one of the tokens out of the open coin return, and dropped it into the slot. A tinny recording of a sitar played as the cards on display in the booth swirled around and the lights on the outside flashed on and off in a spinning pattern.

A slot in the front spat out a yellowed card. Alex picked it up, then moved to the side. Tricia stood by her after getting her own fortune, and once Cole got his too, they all turned to face each other.

Operative Lost

A government operative is captured, implanted with a parasite, and remodeled into a more profitable form. Explicit.

DATALINKS ACCESS

Authorization key accepted at 0x94f2ee

Enter search term: triple a_

TRIPLE A: Colloquial term referring to Aegis Systems, AeroTech, and Atmos as a single entity. While these companies prefer to be called by their official branding, little effort is made to correct citizens of Canis who use this term. Often used as a stand-in for 'the government', as the government of Canis is run via corporate enterprise. Aegis, AeroTech and Atmos have owned controlling stock in Canis government since 2151 and have provided over five centuries of fair, continuous rule.

The Hyena in the Honeymoon

Dick and Janet have some car trouble, so they stop for help at a mad scientist's home. Explicit.

Janice reached out one paw and switched off the radio. The inside of the car was starting to smell like radiator fluid.

"Are you all right, honey?"

Dick grasped his forehead where a bump was slowly rising against his fingers. "I'm fine—Jesus, that was some kick," he said.

Dick opened the door, climbed out of the driver's seat and popped open the hood of his car to be greeted with a plume of smoke. The tiger stepped back, eyes closed, coughing.

"Looks like the radiator blew. I could fix it, but I'd need some tools."

Janice climbed out of the car and Dick took just a moment to soak her in, lit up by the headlights. From her silky dark bob to her polka dot dress to her frankly fantastic legs, all of the beautiful skunk was his to have and to hold: his brand new wife.

"What are we going to do? We're in the middle of nowhere," Janice said.