Alt ending:

... "Your men.. or rather your piles of dirt outside are proof enough that I am not a hitman. I am nature"

The woman paused for a long moment, digesting the scene. It was truly ruthless, and the way he had flipped from affectionate to deadly with a burst of rage. He was dangerous. This meeting was dangerous.

"Apologies, it seems I need to revise my assumptions, sir druid." the druid straitened, beginning to smirk. "However, I do not need another grunt with no regard for the value of a life. I need an assassin."

"If you do not want a brutal show, do not provoke me-"

"And I am worried about this pile of dirt here." The woman continued, brushing the fresh mound of dirt off her shoulder in what she hoped was a casual motion. "It would be a rather noticeable calling card."

"I am no simple grunt" the druid growled, his hair beginning to stand up on his neck. "I refuse to be mocked by one who would be my employer."

"Show me you can control yourself. You have proven you are deadly. You say you are Nature. I have no doubt you could hit the mark, but I don't want it to be messy. What proof can you give me that you will stick to our contract? What could Nature possibly want in this exchange?"

For a moment, the room was silent as both parties stared the other down. The hair on the druid's neck slowly flattened and he got his breathing under control. The woman stood up.

"Well, this has been a fascinating meeting, but I think I will be leaving now" she said, pushing back her chair and standing. "If I ever have a bloodthirsty brawler position open up, I will be sure to contact you. Good day." She turned and started walking to the door.

"Wait!" It was the druid's turn to put himself back together. "You are right, nature doesn't need much. But I do. I broke my stew pot earlier this month and I am sick of water pushing through the walls when it rains. There are things money can do that I simply cant. I can control myself, and I will stick to a contract."

The woman turned around, surprise evident on her face. "You want to become an assassin, for a stew pot?"

"Well... yeah"

"Huh." After an awkward pause, the woman turned back to the table and sat back down. The druid relaxed visibly, the anger and anxiety on his face only now obvious because of its absence. "Well then, now that I know what drives you: Let's negotiate."

You also messed up your commas

I like it ! It’s both kind and futile … bleak and uplifting.

Ah, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you.

I was more making a reference to similar real world circumstances, it's a good prompt

My brothers, We the children of our sweet lady earth, have been betrayed by our government they conspire behind closed doors with Alien tyrants and dictators to weaken and subjugate our Noble and Glorious People.

Why should we be made to kowtow to Xeno Scum, why should we be made to clear the way for them.

Why should you TRUE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF SOL be made to live in poverty while our leaders and their alien masters waltz under chandeliers of crystal, gold, and diamonds.

Why should you wear rags of clothing, while they wear garments of Tyrants Violet.

Why should you be priced out of your homes by alien mongrels.

Brothers, and Sisters we can not allow this to continue. We are the Descendants of heroes of old from cultures around Earth.

So Today I say to you let us raise the flags of rebellion, Slay our former masters in their violet tyrants linens.

BECAUSE IF WAR MOST COME LET IT COME IN MY TIME SO MY CHILDREN MIGHT LIVE IN PEACE!!!!

not gonna lie the entire time I was thinking "ha she be Hephaestus's kid." I can't help it.

Love it! Hoping for a third part.

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It was removed by moderators for violating rule 6 and then reposted in a fixed way with moderator permission.

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I've seen this one happen already!

Thank you. Great prompt!

Glad someone got the reference!

Your stories always make me jealous when I read them. Great as always!

This was what I was expecting, though not in poem

As with any good poem I read it back a few times to make sure it was all good.

I like that she wants to go on adventure again too

Nicely done

I look forward to all the others

First time?

Wow you beat my skill by far and totally worth it

what flavor hammer is it

Part 2 perchance?

Here you go.

Reinita navigated the crowd like a salmon pushing upstream, striking against the natural order of its movements back towards her home. By the time she got there, metal on harmonic metal rang out sweetly as the church tower's resident bell echoed over all of Laderande and surely beyond as well. For a change, the sound rattled her as much as it did visitors to this small city. "Oh no..." she whispered as she got to the door. She fumbled with her keys in her pockets, hands shaking as she tried to line it up with the lock. Once it got in and turned with a click, Reinita ran into the small pale brown house.

Her mother wasn't home, which she was grateful for. She didn't want to think of the earful she was about to get. She went to her room and carefully, almost reverently, placed her new knick-knack on her bed. "... stay," she said to it, before bolting out of the house once more.

The bell had long finished ringing when she arrived at town square and the large well there. Sitting at one of the benches was a woman in black slacks and white blouse who looked beyond irate. She had short hair that curled in thick ringlets and, when she saw Reinita, stood to reveal that the little lady was only up to this woman's shoulder. Reinita rushed over and, between breaths, said, "I'm so... so sorry, Dura..."

The woman, Dura, held up one hand. "I don't want to hear it, Reinita. This is the third time you've been late for a date. Out of three dates."

"I didn't MEAN to, there was- there was the crowd, and then-"

"You knew there would be a crowd. It's the busiest day of the year. Everyone goes shopping today to get ready for Holy Week. Everyone." Dura crossed her arms and looked down at Reinita, tapping her high-heeled foot.

Reinita took a step closer and placed a hand on Dura's arm. "I should have thought better, you're right, and I-"

Dura recoiled from her touch as if it was a hot flame. "You messed up. Again. But I respect myself a lot more than you apparently respect me. We're through." Dura turned and walked away, putting her hands in her pockets as she departed.

There wasn't anything Reinita could do or say to get Dura to come back, and she knew it. "... not again," she whispered to herself. She took a few steps after Dura only to stop, watching her fade away into the crowd.

Reinita made her way home, and this time, she wasn't as lucky as before.

"Rei? What are you doing home so early? Didn't you have a date?" Reinita grimaced at her mother's words, which the equally-short, plump woman did not fail to notice. Her weary features accompanied a growing frown as she asked, "You blew it? Again? How did you blow it again? What is with you? You keep finding all these amazing women who will give you the time of day, and then losing them."

"Mom... I don't want to talk about it," she said as she went to head towards her room.

"You're going to have to talk about it! You can't just push me away like you always do! One day, you're going to wish I was here to open up to, and-"

Reinita had already crossed her mother's path and gotten into her bedroom, where she almost slammed the door shut, but caught it last second to very, very gently close the door. It would have been a catastrophe if the door had slammed - all around her room, small trinkets of various shapes and sizes and, most importantly, fragility. She locked the door and then went to her bed.

She took off her worn-down white flats and threw herself on her bed, only to be greeted by the hammer she had previously left there. "Oof." She sat up and moved the hammer until it was in front of her, on her lap. "... at least I can tell what you are. You're a hammer. And you're not going to leave me, are you?" she asked as she looked down at it. "I don't know what to do with you."

A knocking at her door. "Rei?" called her mother. "Stop talking to your junk and come talk to me instead, or at least clean your room!"

Reinita took her hammer and burrowed its head and her own under her pillow, a bright magenta as opposed to the pale pink of her dress. The door knob jiggled loudly as her mother tried to get in. "You're twenty two, you can't hide and wallow in my home forever, young lady!"

She closed her eyes and waited for her mother to give up. She wasn't sure if her mother gave up first or she fell asleep, but before she knew it, she was dreaming.

raspy, cracking voice My name is Jonathan. I am 17 years old. I had my first cigarette at 13. My friends said it was cool, that all the cool kids smoked. They were right. A lot of big movie stars looked cool while smoking. Arnold Schwartezeggar and his cigars. Clint Eastwood, always so badass. The Smoking Man from The X-Files. James Bond, one of the most suave men in film. Even Sarah Conner and Ellen Ripley. All of them looked so cool.

raises a cigarette, places it in the hole in my throat, and takes a drag.

Smoking is cool... right?

“Captains log, Supplemental.

It was a trap. I felt it was, but then being a prey species we were more attuned to such things than others. Still I overrode my instincts, the mission orders required it, and we had to get to the Romulan Republic colony on Azuno VII. Sometimes you’ve got to stick your neck out when lives are on the line. So we took the USS Sarantites into the system and right into their new weapon. The ship was disabled in seconds, and before we could restore power, we were boarded.

Unfortunately now it’s my CREW ’’s lives. The Tal Shiar were behind the crisis on the colony, and the last thing they want is the Federation riding to the rescue..

They didn’t consider me a threat. Hell they didn’t believe I was captain. To be honest, we Choblik were not really suited for such. I spent more time on the scientific side of things. But this is too far.”

“Are you sure about this Captain?”

Lieutenant Templar looked worried. Of course the human always looked worried, except now he had a reason too. We’d been ambushed and boarded. The enemy had known someone would come, it was just our bad luck that we were the closest. Science ships aren’t really great in a fight alone.

I nodded at him, as my arm dropped onto the deck with a thud. I had already cobbled the replacements together, but needed assistance mounting them to myself. “The power requirements are steep, but that's why I have extra power cells.”

“I’m not doubting your engineering Sir” he said, as he hooked the new arm into my chest. “I’m just concerned about the impact this will have on you.”

Of course he was-He was a medic after all, and to be honest, the LAST race in the galaxy you’d expect that would do something like this would be mine. But we Choblik, while descended from prey species, the Great Builders gave us the means to move past that when necessary. And my crew, my herd was in danger.

I felt the new arm interface with my cybernetics. Function check, phaser cannon, chainsaw, flame unit, all operational. The shield unit on my back was salvaged from a type 11 shuttlecraft. It would be a bit warm, but doable. “I’ll be fine. “ I bleated. We both knew I was lying. But I knew a good therapist on Starbase 39.

It was fortunate that they thought I was just another scientist. Unfortunate for my XO however. I could hear her screams from down the hall. I looked at the wall, interfacing with it. Two guards outside this room where we were being held, I could see them through the ship's internal sensors. As I spun up the saw and unsealed the door, I gave a reassuring bleat to the Lieutenant. “Let's get our ship back.”

Damn