Today marks the 8th year anniversary since I posted the very first "episode" of Liena's Way. Since I celebrated the anniversary of Tales of Travelers, I felt like I should do the same for the other most important series I've ever written. So once again, another image courtesy of  xehta13

While ToT is #1 to me for a lot of reasons, LW is definitely a close second. It was a different sort of writing for me... it played out more like a sit com than the epic adventures I usually wrote about. Course there was still plenty of drama... and fornication. I mean, it did co-star Liena after all.

It was also a great pick me up though... I started writing it after a breakup. So it was a nice distraction from that. Course it was only planned to be a one and done thing though.

How it started was pretty funny though, it was mainly me and Lunis talking about the titular dragoness. I eventually decided, well hell, I'll write something with her and Mecha meeting and banging cause that sounds fun. However, after the first episode I had to do a sequel... and after that I just kept going at it. I really hadn't planned for it to become the big 50 episode monster it became. I also managed to finish it up with a grand finale that served as an ending and a beginning all in one.

Liena's Way is simply just... fun for me. Plus I got to work using a bunch of Lunis's characters. Using basic ground work, I actually managed to grow several of the ladies he contributed for the series into full fledged characters.

Oh! An alternative title for this was "Needle and Haystack Life" after the song that I still believe is the BEST theme song for the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C6fGYUXxBc

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One Night, A Thousand Memories

I’ve wandered around the world for all my life. All that I can remember at least. I awoke a half machine monster on an operating table. And I was in the employ of a group… well they weren’t good people. Some of them weren’t… others were good. They were my only friends and family. I ended up testing that bond though.

I waged a one-man war against all I had known in the name of principles, because I grew a conscience and decided to throw my life away. I had every expectation I’d die by the end of my fool crusade. Imagine my surprise when I didn’t.

I left home not to long after I finished college. I’m talking it took days of non-stop driving to get there. It was a scary experience… leaving everything I had known behind. But I had a nice starter job all lined up. And when I got here I managed to make new friends. All of them were with benefits.

Heh, made a lot of benefits since high school… though not many of them I would call friends. Honestly some of the guys and girls I’ve bed were kinda assholes outside the sheets. And sometimes… I was the asshole. I’ve always been the “no strings” kinda girl, but several people thought that would change… and I didn’t really do anything about it. Broken hearts and hurt feelings… some really stupid decisions connecting it all together.

So, when my stupid war was over I just kept wandering the world, all in solitude. I don’t know why, but I pretty much cut contact with my family when the dust settled. But I kept going, pushing myself along one day at a time. Less living and more not dying. It was just… empty and hollow, meandering about without any purpose or drive.

I got low. Really low. I was so ready for death while I was fighting…

But then I realized how much dying scared me. So, I just kept going. It got easier. I style myself as an “urban mercenary” doing all manner of odd physical jobs. My cyber nature meant I could do things other people could never dream of doing. It allowed me to stay alive. But like I said… I wasn’t living.

And then one night…

Time passed in my new home, well I had a few homes in the general area. I eventually came to my little two-story place. Housing boom meant I got a nice price for it. I managed to score a few nice jobs, each only took a couple days out of the week, so good income. I had a number of good friends in the area, hell I even convinced my BFF to move to town, lots of fun to be had in all different places. Made a lot of interesting… benefits I guess we’ll keep calling it.

Heh, playing coy is fun. Ah, but really life was kinda just… life. Working, spending time with friends, enjoying the little things with occasional big occasions dotting the experience. Everything was pretty much just normal. Until this one night… and stop me if you heard this one before but…

I walked into a bar.
She walked into the bar.

He was just sitting there, covered up head to toe. He really didn’t make for an approachable figure. But… there was just something about him…

It might have been REALLY stupid… but I just walked right on up and sat down next to him.

I didn’t really get what prompted it. I mean… dressed in a trench coat, hood over my head. Who thinks to themselves “oh yeah, I’m gonna seduce this guy” but she just plopped down next to me. The ONLY person in that bar to do that. She talked, needled me for conversation. At first it was annoying… a bother… just some stupid girl doing some stupid thing but… she knew it was dumb. But she just… she said there was something about me… something she liked.

I was so used to people being afraid… to no one ever approaching… to being left alone. I cultivated an air of threat and intimidation. I made sure to make myself seem dangerous. And she saw through it within just a few seconds of seeing me. Heh, turns out she actually took psychology though, and she’s pretty damn good at it. She even saw through my half-hearted attempts at not getting dragged to her house. Heh, the lady gets what the lady wants apparently.

Some people do what they do because they feel like they’re expected too. Like they can’t do something that they really want to deep down because of how they’d be perceived. Him though, he just was afraid of how I’d react to what I saw… but I already decided I wanted him as a benefit. Nothing under that hood was going to change that. It was cute seeing him so relieved when I didn’t scream and run off.

I had no idea how much of an impact that night would have though. That decision to go to THAT bar, to sit next to THAT man. It seemed like just any other “benefit” that I was getting. But that one night…

…turned into several. I stayed in places for a few weeks… a couple months at most. Eventually though I always moved on. But… the time I spent with her was amazing. Not just the sex… we also just talked and did small shit like watch tv and things… she got me to start gaming with her. When it came time for me to head on off… I just couldn’t go. And hearing her ask me to stay… it was a bit scary I’ll admit. Giving up my life of roaming for something I had NEVER experienced… but I wanted it. I wanted to stay with my friend.

From there I met all of her friends. And she insisted on sharing me with them. It was… not something I ever expected in my life. Hell, I’m fully aware it’s a position a lot of people would kill for. So, I know I am one lucky son of a bitch. Course it wasn’t all just non-stop ice cream and… umm “whipped cream topping”…

We had some disagreements… a big fight when I found out he’s constantly got a pair of blades in his arms. I learned getting really drunk was a bad idea cause it just made me run my mouth off and throw all diplomacy out the window. Even if he says he’s just as responsible… I still feel like a bitch about the whole thing. That even started a problem… but that’s later… we made up the next day thankfully. I was so worried he’d up and leave… never to come back all because I was stupid.

But I suppose that really was the first real clue I had. I don’t even know how many guys and gals had come and gone… but him… he was the one I couldn’t stand to never see again. I wanted him to stay. And then…

The club where she worked as a dancer got hit with a fine for one of the girls breaking rules. The place was going to go under. They tried a fundraiser, but they were still short several hundred dollars. I ponied up the remainder… and she made such a big deal out of it. I don’t know why… she was so heartbroken over potentially losing the place. How could I not do something? After everything she had done… after how… normal she made me feel? It was only $600… well okay closer to 700 but still. I think, even though I wouldn’t admit it to myself I actually…

…after that things started to really change though. She got more… sweet I guess you’d call it. She just… she wanted to spend solo time with me. None of the girls, just me and her. I… didn’t know why… and… well she and her friend Nikita…

That night when we fought… he had stumbled on her. Nikita had just gotten dumped… he was there for her. Because of that… Nikita got a crush on him. I mean, he’s so sweet and wonderful, I can’t blame her but…

After he saved the club… just because of me… I started thinking about our whole dynamic. I had stuck with him far longer than any fling… and when he just dropped so much money… just to make me happy. He still avoided people like the plague and tried to hide himself away… but he felt comfortable around me…

He wasn’t a fling. He’d stopped being one a long time ago… since before our fight. I hadn’t realized… or maybe I didn’t want to realize that I adored him far more than just a friend. That I wanted more attention from him… and Nikita did too.

We were best friends… but for like a month… we were at each other’s throats. We threw all manner of horrible insults and insinuations at one another. I’m not proud of how we acted but… I’d still fight tooth and nail… for him. And to hear those three sweet words in my ears…

I don’t know why I thought telling her was a good idea. Just blurting out “I love you” without a second though. But I’m damn glad I took the jump. Hearing her say she loved me too was just… I can’t describe it.

There was fallout of course… Nikita took the rejection pretty hard… but even after a brutal fight… the two of them were still best friends deep down. Nikita’s BFF was there for her, to help her through that rather low point they found themselves in. Never thought I’d wind up in a love triangle.

From there things went pretty much the same… I mean we were much more affectionate than before but still… live life you know… She even took me to meet her family.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t both extremely proud and massively embarrassed about showing him off to my parents and sister. Though, I had to put the latter in her place for getting to confrontational with my puppy. But that was sorted out quick enough, and she came to live with us. I think he was happy having someone around who he could trade barbs with and not have to worry about getting asked for sex all the time.

…

But there was always this one thing he never talk about.

My past. I was never proud of what I did. I worked for a terrorist organization… killed innocent people. When I grew a conscience, I ended up killing a lot of former friends who didn’t feel the same. The day of my betrayal alone ended up killing two people who were practically siblings to me. I never wanted to discuss it, to relive it and relate it to her. But one day one of my old friends who did join me showed up. With her… I knew I had to tell my dragoness the truth. As much as it hurt to remember… as much shame as I felt… she had a right to know who I was and what I had done.

Eventually I told her… and what really surprised me about the situation was that… I wasn’t afraid. I knew she’d accept it… after a while of course. She needed some time to think… I don’t blame her. But sure enough… she took me back after a few days. The past is the past…

And in the here and now he was my sweet little puppy. It certainly helped that his friend, Nine, filled us in on how broken and desperate they all were when they’d been recruited. Hard to blame people who had nothing but fear they’d die before tomorrow for taking up an offer to be stronger and better.

From Nine though, he managed to reconnect with everyone. I was so happy to see him get back his family, and we even were invited to one of their weddings. Heh, it felt so weird being the odd duck out for once. But as time kept going… things changed. Heh, can you believe a guy would actually get tired of unrestricted sex from multiple girls? He did… he wanted us to become less open as it were, and he was the one benefiting from the arrangement. Course I have a huge thing for sharing my special hound, so I only agreed provided we could still do group fun. But it was around that time that I started to notice something about myself though… things that were awfully familiar.

Call me crazy, but sex with just any of her friends wasn’t fun anymore. I still enjoyed our time… and I certainly didn’t mind the group stuff… I think that was my first real clue to how I wanted things to go. I called up my buddy for some advice on the subject. I had already gotten a perfect ring… he told me I just needed a perfect place to do it. Luck would have it, Nine and her little boyfriend had gotten a new place and were throwing a party. It was the perfect spot.

When we arrived, we mingled a bit…. I wanted the sun to fully set before I popped the question. She said she wanted to talk… the chance was perfect. Summing up all the courage and just gung ho I could, I got on a knee and asked her to marry me. And she said yes! Hell, it wasn’t just yes… it turns out I was gonna be a dad! Me! I was actually going to be a daddy!

I didn’t think he’d be so ecstatic to find out I was pregnant. But I didn’t think he’d pop the question either. But hearing how he really did want to spend his entire life with me… that he wanted to get married and raise a family together… I was crying as I held onto him. I was afraid it was all a dream, but nope. Or else I just haven’t woken up yet… hope I never do if that’s the case.

We set the date. We wanted it to be official before the kids were here… yes plural. I was carrying twins. Fraternal twins. Larxene and Merrick. Lovely names for our two lovely angels. Sorry, getting sentimental, aren’t I? Heh. The ceremony was wonderful though… having all our friends and family… hearing him say “I do.” It just… it really was the happiest day of my life.

I never would have imagined I’d wind up where I am now. I never dreamed I’d have a wife… kids… a home. That me and the others would have families… that after everything… we’d be… I’d be…

Normal. She gave me that chance. My sweet, beautiful Liena gave me a life I never thought I’d get to have. I can never tell her enough how much she means to me.

I never imagined I’d settle down. I never thought I’d actually fall in love. But, life works out like that doesn’t it? It throws curve balls… sometimes those curve balls turn out for the better. I made some stupid decisions in my life I’ll admit… like I said I’ve been the heartbreaking asshole before. But… that was then…

Now I’ve got my Mecha. My sweet, adorable, loyal little puppy. And we’ve got two puppies of our own now. I never imagined being a wife and mom… but I’m so glad I’ve gotten this opportunity. I used to think that I was the one opening him up to new experiences. That I was leading him to a new life.

But I was only half right. Without realizing it he was doing the same for me. My world’s become so much more thanks to him. And to think… it’s all because of…

She allowed me to start living again… she made me realize I could get past screwed up. It’s been a bumpy road sure, but… it’s a road I would take any time. I’m happy were I’ve ended up. Ever since…

That one night
That one night