Jade Fern Grove find what you love and let it kill you

The instant that Elora's eyes landed upon him, he felt a strange sense of otherness. She either didn't recognize his ugly mug or she was playing hard to get — except not the actual "hard to get" — oh you know what I mean. There was shock and awe there. Mostly shock, actually.

And then she was looking beyond him as if Vihaan was just a figment of her imagination or some shit, and bringing everyone's attention to Ocra? No, you dweeb, I'm --

Vihaan?! someone shouted, and cut him off. Usually he'd be all-for hearing ladies call his name, but this entire situation was so confusing that he simply whipped his head around (and stared slack-jawed at) his little sister.

You too?! What the hell, man! He was happy to see her. Very happy, in fact. The phrasing could've used a little finesse, but he was grinning at Ocracoke and sliding up next to her, bumping shoulders and being all buddy-buddy, as if this was a family reunion and not a Big Important Meeting.

When Sriracha began to talk, Vihaan's attention was still fixated upon both of his siblings. He looked from one to the other, beaming like an idiot, and didn't bother hiding the wag of his tail. He sort of wiggled all over, really. Whatever Sriracha was saying was going in one ear and out the other, because all Vihaan wanted to do was talk to his family.

And then Sriracha got to the whole first day of class garbage, and when given the prompt to go around and introduce ourselves, Vihaan was the first to announce: My name is Vihaan! This is my little sister Ocra, here she earned a shoulder-bump whether she liked it or not, and then he shot Elora a look that indicated she was next — but he held his tongue when he glanced at her, swallowed his indecision, and looked at Sriracha.

I like star-lit dinners, long walks on the beach, and bouqets of flowers to line the floor of my den. Following this he gave an enthusiastic wink at Sriracha, and then finally shut the hell up so that someone else could talk.