‘Someone posted online a thirty-minute file of a camera pointed at a fireplace. It was fortunately in a format that I could turn into a VideoCD, so ... did. I remembered that you had always wanted to have a fireplace, so I brought it with me. It’s not much, but at least it’s a start for your dream.’ We stood there for a long time, the music finally ending. The silence was quite comfortable: just two lovers holding each other in the light of a fireplace. The silence was broken again, although. Such an accomplishment required a large family safely housed with a large, wealthy enclave. The Temperdis replenished its ranks, though the costs were incredible. One of the terrible costs was the lack of nuclear families.Benni's family wasn't his blood kin. That family, which had been a part of Family Roderick, had long since gone their separate ways. His father had died in a stimstick turf war a few years back. He had been an aggressive go-getter, gambling on rising in that lucrative trade.. “I entered a sort of gentleman’s agreement with Jesus Christ and he’s turned over the material plane or Cosmos to me, leaving Heaven only to himself and his Father. Shocking, right. Apparently, he was never a physical, mortal person, just an angel in disguise. Makes a lot of sense, given the impracticality of many of his teachings. A lot easier to preach such rubbish if you don’t have to live in the flesh 24/7, doesn’t it?“The Rapture was part of our accord, in that he agreed not to take you. I looked at the finished product in the mirror. Not too bad consideringwhat I had to work with. I could never pass in public but it made mefeel suitably feminine enough in the privacy of my own home.I pulled out the chest I kept under my bed. I opened it and lifted outthe lacey pink thong. I pulled it up my legs, savouring the feeling ofthe soft material over my freshly shaven legs. I then pulled out themass of white material, which snapped into it's correct shape of a hoopskirt crinoline. I.