I looked down at his round, flat face, looking back up at me curiously.

"Why not wear shoes inside?" he asked.

"Starlight, how about I put it this way," I began, "Think of your shoes like a fancy pair of underwear,"

Starlight burst out laughing.

"Why?" he asked, "That's weird!"

Thunder clapped outside, made more audible by the door left wide open, and rain pattered through onto the wooden floor. I slid the door shut with a thud.

"Well, the underwear is nice. So you like to wear it,"

Starlight was barely paying attention.

"Hey!" I said, "Look over here!"

Starlight looked over, blinking his blank white eyes.

"You have a nice pair of underwear and you like to wear them. But you don't just go around outside in them to show them off," I said.

"Yeah,"

"The same goes for your shoes. They are nice shoes, definately, but you don't wear them inside. You only wear them outside. Just like it's OK to go around in your underwear in private, but not outside,"

"Oooh," Starlight said, as if coming to a realization, "Shoes are like reverse underwear!"

"Yes, exactly. Now take them off and put them by the door," 

Oooh that's funny, Pooki! 

Continued introduction, perhaps?

Now, on honor. It's a lovely thing which a few people are bereft of, but don't let that stop you from keeping on a shelf somewhere and using it now and again. When someone does you a good turn, you repay them by giving them a better turn. Never betray anyone unless you know for sure that they will either A, die, or B, never know about it until too late. Show people how lovely and trustworhty and honorable and what an all-around great person you are. This is good when trying to gain trust. People know you're the most helpful person on the block? Well, wouldn't that be the greatest person to put your trust in? And give people MORE when they help you than what the 'heroes' give them. It'll show them whom to trust, who will give 'em the most grub, aye?

So - to recap on what we said earlier, pretend to trust people, pretend that that a certain henchman is just the world to you, pretend that you like kids, pretend, pretend, pretend. If you don't think you're up to snuff, take acting classes. When dealing with henchmen, especially, make sure that they depend on you. Perhaps with some kind of horrible handicap that makes it very easy to run away from them? Make them trust you, depend on you. Fear is all very well, but love is better. And fear is the easy way out. It's easy to be a jerk to someone you secretly hate, but it's hard to act kind to people you want on the front line as soon as possible, with the minimum amount of armor possible, also perhaps with the maximum possibility they're going to die, too. No one betrays whom they love. Except for bastards, but just hire people who are more morally stable then you in that case. Hire them dumb, (In all senses of the word, preferably. A mute man tells no tales, as they say) hire them cheap, and hire them dependant. Also, make each one think you like that one better than the rest. As long as they distrust each other and never commune, you have a fine balance between jealousy and pride. 

Also, hire them illiterate.

And maybe so they have no drawing skill, too.

Just in case. 

XD thanks. Credit to my boredom for allowing me to write that.

A very poetic line for who knows what: I stand out but I'm never seen.

Boo says ayte. Ate? Did you eat some cake? 

Ame watched from the lamp post as his mother lowered the wooden elevator by crank, just a light far off in a sea of blackness. Aoi touched his shoulder.

"Momma is home," she said, "We should go home too,"

Ame nodded and faced his elder sister, age 8. Black bangs fell just above her peircing black eyes, identicle to his own. He knew they were twins. But still, Aoi was the older one.

The two walked off down the cobblestone street, lit with lanterns that failed to illuminate the eternally black sky of the underground city.

"What do you think Momma did up there?" Ame asked.

"I bet she killed a bunch of Demons," Aoi said.

"Do you ever wonder what's... up there?" Ame asked again.

"Demons. Broken stuff. Bad things," Aoi said, tucking her hair behind her ear, "Nothing that interesting. Lots of dangerous stuff,"

Ame blinked and kept walking.

"...but I'm curious too," his sister added.

The two turned a corner and kept walking, their shoes thudding the cobblestone. The foodstuff factories were here, vast buildings of greenhouses and factories, making stuff out of the crops that grew. That was where everything they put in their mouths came from. Eat. Grow strong.

...or be eaten.

Something hit the floor loudly behind them. A flower pot dropped out of a window? No, this was not a residential district. Frozen in their tracks, the twins turned aroud cautiosly. It stood there, several yards away, blank-faced and covered in twisted metal and nuclear burns, wearing ripped and burnt silk robes, mettallic claws extended.

"Aoi..." Ame whispered, looking to his sister.

Aoi let out a loud scream and grabbed her brother's rist, voilently jerking back around and running off.

"DEMON! DEMON!" She screamed.

Ame, running behind her, looked around at the bizzare abomination of metal, flesh, and nuclear waste, running after them, ready to take them both.

The two burst out of the alleyway and into the street, driving a horse drawing a carrige to suddenly break into a run.

"DEMON!" Aoi shouted, "DEMON! IT GOT DOWN HERE!"

The townspeople suddenly began to look worried.

"A Demon?"

"You mean from the surface?"

"But we're guarded!"

"Demon!"

Aoi looked around her, and at her brother. There was no time for explaining. Just like that, she jerked him off his feet and ran down the street. And seconds later, It came barreling after them. People scattered. One was crushed. And still, Aoi screamed.

"...Aoi!" Ame panted, "...We're gonna... die...!"

"...No...Ame...!" She replied, "Momma will save us...! The...guardians...will...!"

"DEMON!" A cry came from behind them.

And the street broke out into a chorus of screaming, people scattering away from the corrupt beast.

Far off, perhapse up in the roof of the cave, the warning horn blared. Onto the street, black hair tied up in a ponytail, Machi ran with with her battleaxe strapped to her back.

"DEMON!" She shouted in her powerful voice.

She whipped a whistle from her pocket and blew into it, it's scream ringing out throghout the entire city. The Demon turned around to face her, the remains of an unfortunate soul in it's claw. Machi pulled the axe from her back and ran towards it, raising it above her head--

And swung.

Just like that, the day was recorded in the mayor's recordbooks.

5634, April Second- The day our city was infiltrated

Something was amiss.

Perhapse, the Demons were still among them.

---

"Momma?"

Machi turned around.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Did that demon come from outside?"

"No, sweetie," she replied, "It must have come from here," 

top!

~~~~~

Moments after we finish eating, Jack leans up against a tree and heaves a huge sigh. He bites his lip, like he is hesitant to say something.

"Okay, are we really doing this? It's totally crazy," he explodes.

"Oh no, Jack. We're just following a couple of assassins for no good reason," Willow replies sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Jack, we're the only ones who know about this plan. We have to act," Alex points out.

I pull my hair up and twist it messily into a bun. I use a piece of hair to keep it in. 

"We're doing this Jack," I proclaim," We're gonna save this mess of a country. We're gonna save the world."

~~~~~~~~~

Boo says beka. Do you know someone named Rebecca? 

Ame and Aoi, age twelve, stepped into the dusty attic, the lamplight from outside filtering through the single window and onto the floor.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ame asked, scratching his arm.

"We have to do this, Ame," Aoi said, "If we don't, no-one will,"

No-one will? Ame felt himself shiver.

"What do you mean? Of course someone will!" he said.

"No, no they won't," Aoi said as she walked over to a crate and violently shoved off the lid.

"And how do you know? I'm almost certain the King will. Either that or momma will!"

Aoi sighed.

"You just don't get it, do you," she said, crossing her arms.

"No, I don't," Ame replied.

"Momma can't just go off and fight Demons willy-nilly. She has to be sent out to do it. Just like everyone else in the Imperial Leigon," Aoi said, "And the King's got her out on the surface. Not in the tunnels. For crying out loud, he doesn't even acknowledge they exist in the first place! He won't beleive it!"

"Aoi, we showed those people the entrance last month. He's got to know about it by now,"

"Ame," Aoi said.

"What?"

"He's the king. He's putting all his money into the surface, so that's where the money goes. If he won't do it, we'll have to do it ourselves,"

Ame frowned.

"I guess you're right. But momma's gonna get killed up there sooner or later and it would have been for nothing," he said.

"Yeah," Aoi said, "That's why we can't join the imperial leigon. Because nothing will get done,"

She reached into the crate and grabbed two electric katanas and battery packs.

"We'll need these," she said.

Ame nodded.

"Yeah,"

"Come on, Ame. You've gotta help me get our supplies,"

Ame nodded again.

"Right,"

"Now, you go get some foodstuff and I'll get us more weapons,"

-----

Ame and Aoi set everything down on the floor.

"Alright, so that makes it... two electric katanas, battery packs, a crank charger, crank lanterns, candles, candle lanterns, three boxes of packet meals, and..." Ame trailed off.

"A canteen, and that really old blueprint to the tunnels we found," Aoi finished, "That's everything,"

"Yeah... everything,"

"What's the matter, Ame?" Aoi asked, concerned.

"Nothing. Come on, we have to get to the tunnels," Ame said.

----

Little did they know, someone was waiting for them at the tunnel gate. He stood there, with a something else, something twisted, standing next to him.

"They're coming soon," he whispered to that something.