Hey, shiny!



Omg, see the shiny?  The new pages on the sidebar, one for Vignette: Tsunami and any future vignettes I write, and one for all the Paradise posts up to now?  Focus on that, not the fact that I still have to post the latest chapter of Paradise (it's coming, one more day, lovers).  Yay for shinies!  I hope those pages help interested readers to get caught up without too much clicking and scrolling.

What else...Boulder has leapt into fall wholeheartedly, and we've had freezing rain and snow in the past few days.  So awesome.  The new house is great (pictures coming soon), work is...well, work, but it's consistent, I'm querying the hell out of my novel, I've done my familial duty for the forseeable future by inviting my siblings to Thanksgiving...yeah.  Lookin' good.

Paradise soon, and more information on The Captain as well!  It's in the hands of two trusty betas as we speak.

Paradise Post #8

Notes: Aww, cockblocked by plot!  I had this awesome sex scene going, I wrote most of it out, and then I realized that it wasn’t what was needed here.  The story needed to be furthered more than my intimate encounter could do for us, so I’m saving that particularly dirty scene for later and giving you…this.  Still good, though!

 

Title: Paradise

 

Part Eight: Grin and Bear It

 

 

 

***

 

 

                Contrary to what a lot of people seemed to think, Jonah was not, and had never been, easily fooled.  It wasn’t hard to tell that there was a lot of discomfort in the air, most of it stemming from Garrett.  There was an edge between him and Robbie, something beyond simply being former lovers surrounded by present ones, an edge born of secrets and a disinclination to share them.  Jonah didn’t press his fiancé about it even though he was curious, because there was another edge in the air as well, resting firmly between himself and Garrett, and he didn’t know what to do about it. 

That it pertained to the Drifters in orbit, Jonah knew.  That their existence somehow meant that Jonah was suddenly going to abandon everything he had and whisk Cody away into the stars to live with his history again, well, there weren’t even words for that kind of crazy.  He’d never give up what he had now, not without a hell of a fight, and he couldn’t say it any more clearly than that.  He had said it, in fact.  Garrett just smiled, comforted but not fully appeased.

                There were layers to Garrett’s anxiety, stacked up and sifting over and through each other, changing a little more every day.  The man had the most complicated heart that Jonah had ever encountered, and if blunt declarations didn’t do the trick, then Jonah could be more subtle.  He spent every night in Garrett’s arms, no matter how hot it got or how long it took him to fall asleep.  He woke up with him every morning, unless Garrett had taken off first.  He kissed him whenever he saw him, light and easy, and every time his lover smiled a little more freely.  

                Their bed became a strange, sort of sacred space, one where they almost never spoke.  Two weeks into their visit and they were still making love every night or morning, more often if Garrett could get him along during the day.  Garrett was determined, creative and exhaustive, and after the first couple times Jonah welcomed the addition of a sound-dampening cloth strung up over their bed like a canopy, muffling all sound to the outside world but encapsulating it for the lovers inside, giving each gasp or laugh or moan a special sort of poignancy.

                Jonah pulled out of his lover and stretched out beside him, overheated despite the cool temperature of the room.  Garrett’s skin was tacky with cum and lube and sweat, and they stuck a little wherever they touched.  Neither of them minded very much.  “No school with Cody today?” he asked idly, stroking his fingers into Garrett’s hair.  It was starting to grow out again, silky gold shining against Jonah’s tan hand.

                “No lessons, no work, no checking in with Jezria, and Claudia has promised to leave us alone,” Garrett replied, groaning with satisfaction as he rubbed his thighs together.  Claudia had taken it upon herself to organize their wedding, and she was being thorough.  Very, very thorough.  Jonah hadn’t even known what a boutonniere was before yesterday.  “Wyl and Robbie are taking a mental health day for themselves and Miles has to work, so I thought we could take Cody into Rapture.  We haven’t been to the bazaar yet.”

                “Sounds like fun.”  They’d gone into Rapture several times in the past two weeks, but once was to a restaurant and the next was to a huge indoor mall, each time with a few plainclothes marines at their sides.  Paradise had settled considerably in the past year, but it could still be dangerous, and Miles wasn’t taking any chances with a member of his family.  Garrett seemed to enjoy the fact that the marines kept any gawkers at a distance, and was even more pleased that they hadn’t run into any Drifters in their wanderings.

                “It will be.  There are all sorts of stalls that offer everything from fresh eyes to cloned pets to body art.  By the way, tattoos?  I say Cody has to be at least twelve before his first one.”

                What?  “He wants a tattoo?” Jonah asked, nonplussed.  “Since when?”

                “Since he saw Robbie’s Devildog Squadron tattoo.  It’s a marine thing.  They’re easy to get removed,” Garrett added with a smile.  “A little iontophoresis and you’re good to go.  I got my whole body done for a party, once.  It took a while, but the result was worth it.”

                “The things you do for beauty.”

                “Fashion takes time,” Garrett agreed.  “So, shower, breakfast, bazaar.  Yes?”

                “Sure.”  And no tattoos for his kid, not even if they could be removed.  Not by twelve, either.  Maybe by twenty.  Maybe.

               

***

 

                They took a private car into the city, past the skyscrapers and flashy buildings and out toward the edge of downtown.  They had a pair of marines as escorts, again, but Garrett seemed to know one of them, and was enjoying himself by needling her.  “Thérèse, were you pining for me?” he asked coquettishly, tilting his head to one side and batting his eyelashes at her.  “Is this your way of asking for attention?”

                “No.”

                “So loquacious, darling, be sure you don’t hurt yourself lifting all those heavy words now.  And your partner is…”

                “Kelly,” the man driving them offered.  “Corporal Kelly, sir.”

                “Nice to meet you, Kelly.  Do you mind if I shorten it?”

                “Not at all, sir.”

                “Don’t encourage him,” Thérèse muttered.  Garrett laughed, and Jonah and Cody just looked at each other and shrugged.  Garrett got a huge kick out of bothering the marines, but as long as Cody didn’t start imitating him, Jonah didn’t mind.  Most of them thought it was more amusing than anything else.  Thérèse might be an exception, though.

                A few minutes later they were at the western edge of the bazaar, a market that encompassed about a square kilometer.  The rest of downtown was for Federation imports and elites; the bazaar was where you found the native Paradisians, rural traders and small time interstellar shippers.  It was a huge, teeming place, and more of a security risk than anywhere else in the capitol, but the city’s security forces as well as the marines were patrolling.  They should be safe enough.

                The hardest part about it wasn’t making their way through the crowd, which was bustling, but keeping Cody close.  Every time there was an explosion (and there were plenty of them, generally small ones that were brightly colored, some that shot sparks or holograms into the air) Cody wanted to go there, tugging out of Jonah’s grip almost every time.  Garrett was more proactive, and settled his grip onto the back of Cody’s collar.  That handhold slowed the kid down.

                By the fifth time, Jonah was getting tired of it.  He knelt down and looked sternly at Cody.  “Bucko, if you keep tryin’ to run around I’m just gonna pick you up and head back to the car.  I don’t want you gettin’ lost, okay?”

                “Sorry,” Cody said, staring abashedly down at the ground.  His feet were twitching, though.  “But can we go watch fire dancers, please?  Wyl told me all about them and he says they’re the best, and they’re really close, I saw the flames shoot up—”

                “Sure, we can go.”  Jonah straightened up and turned around, only to come face to face with a girl in green.  She had bright red hair tied back with a sash, and wore a long, heavy skirt.  Her face was round and her cheeks were pink, and Jonah knew her the moment he laid eyes on her.  She smiled broadly at him.

                “Mr. Helms!  Fancy meetin’ you all the way out here!”

                Jonah felt more than saw one of the marines move up behind him.  “Hello, Charlotte,” he said, keeping his voice pleasant and light.  The last thing he needed was for Garrett to get nervous and signal their escorts to do something rash.  “I’d heard the Gondola was in orbit.”

                “And you didn’t call?  Da will think you don’t like him,” she admonished.

                “Your da and I didn’t part on the best of terms.”

                “Oh, that’s nothin’ but old worries, Mr. Helms, for old days.”  She reached out to take his arm, and now one of the marines—Kelly—stepped up next to Jonah warningly.  She withdrew her hand but kept her smile.  “And that must be your boy, hmm?”  She turned her brightness on Cody.  “I’ve not seen you since you were a baby. You’ve grown so big!” 

                Cody looked a little confused, and Garrett kept a firm hand on his shoulder.  “Is there something you want?” he asked, his tone flat.  “Or were you just looking to interrupt our day together as a family?”

                “Not at all, sir,” and now Jonah winced internally, because “sir” was an insult among Drifters, “I’d never dream of interrupting you without a reason.  My da asked me to keep an eye out for Mr. Helms here, and to ask him to share a drink, for old times’ sake, if I saw him.  Our tent’s not far.”  She looked back at Jonah.  “As long as you can spare the time.”

                “Sure.”  Charlotte grinned and Garrett glared, and Jonah turned back to his fiance.  “This won’t take long,” he promised.  “You can go see the fire dancers and I’ll be with you in a couple minutes.”

                “Fine.  Take Kelly with you.”  Jonah started to protest and Garrett held up his free hand.  “It’s protocol for family members, Jonah.”  His face was unyielding, and Jonah finally nodded.  “Good.  Lovely to meet you, Miss Dechiara.”  He smiled politely at Charlotte, then turned and headed towards the dancers, Cody and Thérèse firmly in tow.  Jonah and Kelly were left with Charlotte, who turned and led them back through the crowd.

                Jonah smelled his destination before he saw it, a particularly harsh blend of tobacco that he knew Kilroy favored.  The whole of the Gondola had reeked with it.  And there Kilroy Dechiara was, sitting on a chair under a bright red canopy, an assortment of robotic parts laid out on a blanket on the ground beside him.  He was tall, like Jonah, broader through the shoulders and had the same red hair as his daughter.  He stood up as soon as he saw them.  “Jonah Helms!  Well, you’re a sight for sore eyes!”  He pulled Jonah into a rough embrace.  “Who’s your company, then?”

                “Corporal Kelly, with the Governor’s marine guard.”

                “Ah…so it’s true, then.”  Kilroy’s grin showed a few too many teeth.  “Charlotte, why don’t you take the corporal to have a drink over at Mindy’s?”

                “No thank you,” Corporal Kelly said immediately.  “I need to remain with Mr. Helms.”

                “Then perhaps you could do us the courtesy of givin’ us a little space?” Kilroy suggested quickly, not at all put off.  “Just a few extra yards, for a private conversation.  I’d be greatly obliged, sir.”

                Kelly waited for Jonah to give him a reluctant nod before letting Charlotte draw him a little ways off.  Kilroy motioned to the empty chair next to his, and they both sat down.  “I’ll be damned.  I’d heard you found a Federation man out on that colony of yours, I just didn’t know he was quite so important.  A member of the Governor’s family, no less.  Pretty too, ain’t he?  Man like that doesn’t have to work to live, I reckon.”

                “He’s a climatologist,” Jonah snapped, offended for Garrett’s sake.  “He doesn’t get by on his looks.  And if that’s the tenor of what you have to say to me, I’m gonna be going now.”

                “Slow down,” Kilroy said calmly, holding out his hands.  “I didn’t mean to upset you.  Lord knows you’ve got reason to want something different, after what your mama put you through.  I was just makin’ an observation.”  He poured two cups of grin out of a dented metal pot on a little table between them and set one down in front of Jonah.  “Proper brew.  Been awhile, huh?”

                Hell, it had been awhile.  Grin was a purely Drifter drink, a mélange of whatever happened to be in the stores, usually bad coffee, cocoa powder, old tea leaves and  berry crumbs and caffeine extract, if you had some.  The maxim was that you just had to grin and bear it when you drank, hence the name.  Jonah took a swallow, felt the lining of his throat start to tickle and had to cough.  Kilroy laughed.  “Can’t hold it anymore, boy?”

                “Only you would add juniper berries to grin,” Jonah said hoarsely.  “That’s terrible.”

                “Wakes you up in the morning, though.”  Kilroy swallowed his own cup down, then sighed with satisfaction.  “S’pose you wake up to coffee every morning now.”

                “I like coffee.”

                “An’ I like nekkid women, but you don’t see me indulgin’ in ‘em every day.  Honestly, boy, don’t you miss the old life even a little bit?  Or is it all smooth sailing with your pretty scientist?”

                “The old life didn’t want me and it didn’t want my son,” Jonah said firmly.  “If this is all you’ve got to talk to me about, I’m leavin’.”

                “It ain’t all.  But,” Kilroy grimaced now, “this ain’t exactly the spot for a real conversation.  What say you come back to my ship, and we talk there?”

                “Not gonna happen.  Come to the Mansion and we can talk there.”

                “Oh, I think not,” Kilroy chuckled.  “I think that’s a little rich for my tastes.  Let’s say a neutral location in the city, sometime next week?”

                “I could do that,” Jonah said cautiously.

                “Good, good.  I knew you wouldn’t turn your back on an old friend.”

                “You were always my mama’s friend, Kilroy, not mine,” Jonah said, and if there was a little regret in his voice, he tried not to let it show in his face.  “Talkin’ to me isn’t gonna get you in any better with her.  I haven’t spoken to her for over a year.”

                “I’m not here to bring up bygones,” Kilroy insisted.  “Let the past lie, s’what I say.  I’m interested in the future.  It’s hard days for Drifters now, even in the Fringe, and gettin’ harder every second.  I’m doin’ my part to keep our lifestyle alive.”  He glanced over at Kelly, who was ignoring Charlotte’s charms in favor of staring at both of them.  “And again, this ain’t the time.  Here.”  He handed over a slip of paper—actual paper, fuzzy at the edges—with a communication code written on it.  “This is my personal com.  Call me up and we’ll meet this week.  There’s plenty needs talkin’ about, Jonah.  Don’t let your new friends make you forget your old ones.”

                Jonah didn’t say anything, just took the worn piece of paper and tucked it into his pocket.  He finished off the grin, ignored Kilroy’s sudden smile and walked over to Kelly.  “We can go now.”

                “Yes, sir.”  As they turned away Jonah saw Charlotte’s eyes roll mockingly as she mouthed Yes, sir! at him.  He shook his head and walked towards the bright red flames that leapt into the sky.

                Garrett and Cody and Thérèse were there, standing at the edge of the crowd and watching the display.  Cody didn’t even notice when Jonah rejoined them, he was so entranced, but Garrett saw him coming and reached out a hand as he got close.  Despite the tension between them, his grip was warm and reassuring.  Jonah leaned in and kissed his cheek. 

                “Everything all right?” Garrett asked almost soundlessly.

                “Fine.  Tell you about it later.” 

Garrett searched Jonah’s face with an unusually intense gaze before he finally nodded.  Later, Jonah had the feeling, wasn’t going to be much fun.

Oh Cari...really?

So here I am editing together The Captain stories into one volume to make available to you guys...

Yay, right?  Fun story, my first every posted, I haven't read it for years, this is gonna be great!

Except then I get into the nuts and bolts, and...

Credit goes to http://gifforlife.tumblr.com/search/surprised

Oh my god, grammar, woman!  Punctuation!  Mother of God, did you not attend college?  Don't you know the difference between "to" and "too?"  Did you even read this before you posted it the first time? 

Which, of course, I did, but as this was my very first story to be publically posted anywhere, and I was a total noob, I didn't get it beta'd.  I should have.  Oy.  I'm finding it hard to resist the urge to restrict myself to only technical and not substantive rewrites.  Guess I just need to write another part.  Incidentally, there will be an epilogue of sorts added onto the end of the completed story.

Also...I have grown as a writer and a human being.  I know I need a beta.  Readerwife, prepare to be mobbed.  Any other interested parties, let me know.  I want this to be good before I pay for a cover and get my peeps to help me massage it into different file formats for public consumption.

Happy Tuesday, people.

Paradise Post #7

Notes: Moving on!  I wanted a Cody chapter here, so there isn’t as much development of heavy plot as there could be, but it’s still fun.  Things are percolating…

 

Title: Paradise

 

Part Seven: New Friends, Old Acquaintances

 

 

 

***

 

                Breakfast was a big meal here on Paradise.  Back home, Cody might eat with his dad or with Garrett, but not usually with both, ‘cause they had to get to work at different times.  Here though, everyone showed up.  Maybe they only did because it was a “special occasion,” like Claudia said, but everyone was there, even Miles and Robbie.  They probably made sure to come because the food was so amazing.  Cody got to have pancakes with chocolate, caramel and whip cream in them, all coated with bright purple syrup.  Dad’s pancakes were plain and Garrett just had coffee, which was weird because he usually ate some cereal or something, but he looked really tired, and kept staring down into his mug.  Cody patted him on the knee.

                “I think you need a nap.”

                Garrett raised one eyebrow.  Watching it drove Cody crazy, he had been trying to learn how to do that for months, but he still hadn’t figured it out.  “Really?”

                “Yes.  You look sleepy.”

                “Huh.”

                “You sound sleepy too.”

                “Out of the mouths of babes,” Wyl intoned as he made another espresso.  Cody frowned.

                “I’m not a baby,” he told Wyl.  “I’m seven.”

                “It’s meant to be taken as kind of a metaphor…” Wyl began, then sighed.  “Never mind.  Why are you so tired anyway, Gare?”

                “I had an early morning meeting.”

                Dad looked over at him.  “So that’s where you got off to last night.  Who were you meeting?”

                “He was with me.”  Robbie didn’t speak loudly, but everyone always stopped what they were doing and looked at him when he spoke out.  “I wanted to pass on some information I thought the two of you might find interesting.  The timing of the rendezvous, by the way, was completely Garrett’s idea.  I was all for sleeping through the night.”

                “Oh, traitor.”  Garrett threw his unused napkin, which he’d folded in the shape of a space ship, at Robbie’s chest.  “See if I ever lie for you again, Benedict Arnold.”

                Cody was completely confused by now.  “Who’s Benedict Arnold?”

                The table was quiet for a moment.  “He was a general on Old Earth,” Miles said at last.  “He tried to betray the army he was working for to the enemy.  His plot was foiled, but after that people started using his name to refer to traitors.”

                “Note the personal contiguity that I’ve tailored to you with the military nature of the reference,” Garrett added, his fingertips tapping out a rhythm on the tabletop. He didn’t seem to notice he was doing it. “I could have gone with Judas, or Brutus, but one was too religious and the other too political.”

                “I’d prefer to be compared to Guy Fawkes, if I had to choose,” Robbie said.

                “Well too bad, because traitors can’t be choosers.”

                “Mind telling me what the information is?” Dad finally interjected.

                Robbie stared at Garrett.  Garrett stared back, his fingers tapping faster and faster against the table.  Dad finally reached over and took his hand, stopping the rapid beat.  “Darlin’?”

                “Yes.  Right.  There’s a Drifter ship in orbit right above Rapture.”  Garrett said it fast, like he was spitting out words that didn’t taste good.  “They’ve been here for a while.”

                “What’s the name?”

                “Is it Grandma’s?” 

Cody and his dad spoke at the same time.  Cody thought it would be fun if it was his Grandma’s ship, he hadn’t seen her for…oh…he couldn’t even really remember the last time he’d seen her.  Everything that had happened in his life up to Pandora was kind of blended into one big Before.  The things he did remember were short, tight hallways that went up and up and over and under like ropes tied in a big knot, with rooms in strange places and bluish lights that flickered on and off.  There had been lots of other kids to play with, but lots of sharp edges, too. 

This one time when he’d been playing hide and seek, Cody had wedged himself into a crawlspace that went all the way back to the bulkhead.  It had been really cold back there, and he’d cut his shoulder scootching all the way in and hadn’t even realized it, because the metal was so frosty it made him numb.  None of the other kids found him, and Cody didn’t realize that they’d given up and the game was over until he heard his daddy shouting for him.  By then he was too cold and stiff to crawl back out.  They’d had to move parts of the ship to reach him, and Daddy hadn’t been happy when he’d found Cody injured.

“It’s called the Gondola,” Robbie said.  “The family name is Dechiara.”

“Kilroy,” his dad said thoughtfully. “I know him.  He usually does business out of the Triad cluster, though.  Strange for him to be here.”

“Strange how?” Robbie asked immediately.

“Strange in a way that’s none of our business, because we don’t care,” Garrett interjected.  He and Robbie stared at each other again.  Cody felt his shoulders tense up and didn’t know why.

“O-kay!” Wyl’s voice was a little too loud, but at least he got everyone’s attention. “I think I’ve had enough to eat. Cody, are you full?”

“Well…” Really, he could eat another pancake probably, but…Wyl probably wanted to do something fun.  “Yeah.  Why?”

“I thought now might be a good time to go for that hoverbike ride.  It’s not too awfully hot out there yet.”

“Yes!”  Cody slammed down his fork and kicked the chair back, ready to go.

“Ah, but—” Garrett held up a hand that stopped him.  “You’re supposed to start your lessons today.  If we get back to Pandora and you’re behind the class, your teacher will hang me up by my toes.”

“Miss Lowenstein just says that,” Cody reassured Garrett.  “But she never actually does it.  I mean, I’ve never seen her do it.”

“If anyone could drive her to it, it would be me,” Garrett said, but he was smiling now.  “Okay.  Or, it’s okay with me as long as you’re back by lunchtime, but you should ask your dad.”

“Fine with me, bucko.”  His dad ruffled his hair fondly.  Cody rolled his eyes and tried to smooth his curls back down.  “Have fun with Wyl. Be good.”

“I’m always good!”  Cody paused just long enough to kiss his dad’s cheek, then Garrett’s, before hopping onto the floor and heading out of the kitchen at Wyl’s heels.  “Where’s the bike?”

“It’s in the lot, in my personal parking space,” Wyl said, buzzing them through the connecting door between the mansion and the military base.  “It’s my favorite way to get around here.  Robbie likes tanks, but I think they lack subtlety.”
                “I’d like to ride in a tank!”

“I bet you would,” Wyl chuckled.

“I would be very careful if you let me drive it, too,” Cody continued, trying his Wide, Innocent Eyes Look on Wyl.  It got him what he wanted all the time with his dad and Garrett, but Wyl just smirked. 

“Nice try, Cody, but no.  Now.”  They stopped in an equipment room, where a bored-looking sat reading a magazine at a desk.  Behind him was a cage of some kind, with a glowing, filmy outline.  “Sergeant Powell.”

“Mr. Leyton.”

“I’d like to requisition a helmet for my friend here.  I had one ordered special a few months back.”

“I think we have something like that.”  The sergeant stood up and swiped his palm over a reader, then hummed low in his throat.  The glow vanished and he opened the door.  “Just a second.”  He went inside and Cody bounced anxiously on the balls of his feet.  When the man came back out with a shiny, nearly-transparent helmet that had the black Space Ranger emblazoned on top of it, Cody’s mouth fell open.

“Wow.”

“Your dad said you’d like this one,” Wyl grinned.  “Try it on.”

Cody shoved the helmet down over his head and pressed the loose strap to the other side.  The strap bonded to the helmet with an audible snap.  “You have to use a special tool to release it,” Wyl explained.  “It’s the safest version on the market right now.”

“Cool, can we go now?” Cody didn’t want to hear about how safe it was, he just wanted to go fast.

“I think your friend’s got an agenda,” the sergeant noted.

“I guess so.  C’mon, let’s head out.”

Cody didn’t pay attention to anything other than the weight of his sweet new helmet and how awesome it must look until they were in the lot, and Wyl’s bike was right there in front of them.  It was so much better than Cody had imagined. “You didn’t say it had lightning bolts!”

“How could it be perfect without lightning bolts?” Wyl replied.  He took his own helmet off the handlebars and put it on, then started up the bike, which rose to hover a few feet from the ground.  He lifted Cody onto the back of the bike, then swung his own leg over.  He revved the engine, which growled dramatically.  Cody shivered with excitement and wrapped his arms tight around Wyl’s waist.

“You ready?” Wyl shouted over the noise.

“Yes!”

They roared out of the lot and into the sun, and if Cody’s initial yell of joy was a little tempered by a momentary fear, well, Wyl would never tell anyone.

Where is it, my precious?!?

WHERE IS IT????

Don't worry, the next Paradise post should be up in, like, 12 hours.  Maybe less.  Cross my heart, hope to die, writhe on the ground in agony!

Omg, we're finally moving...

My fingers are trying to spontaneously curl forward thanks to three days spent schlepping boxes and furniture into our new house.  Everything that you remember as painful when you've moved yourself: arms, hands, back knees...yeah.  Feelin' that.  This is the first time in over three years that all of our belongings have been in the same place at one time.  I had no idea we owned so much crap.

On the plus side, I'm living in a great big beautiful house, I have access to my library again and I have carte blanche to walk around in the nude whenever I want (TMI?) because this house is in the mountains and we have no close neighbors and no housemates.  Freedom!!!  On the minus side, the contractor forgot to do a few things, like seal off the base of the shower, fix the electrical outlets in the bedroom, and ensure that the heat not only turns on, but that it turns off as well.  He refuses to fix such things until he talks to the owners of the newly refurbished house, who live in Germany and are working in Alsace for the next two weeks, rendering them unavailable.  So.  My own personal Mr. Fix-It is plotting ways around this obstructionism and I'm just trying to get internet installed.  If I'm mostly absent for the next few days, that's why.  It's surprisingly difficult to get certain amenities in the mountians.

I'll attach a picture of the new place when I can find my camera; so pretty!  In the meantime, I'll have more Paradise love up soon and will discuss my upcoming serial story.  Mmm...serial. 


And PS--hard labor has its perks!  A couple of boulders rolled onto our access road (yes, actual boulders, big rocks that weighed hundreds of pounds, this is where we live now) and it fell to us to move them with rock bars, break them up with sledge hammers and for me to ogle my man wielding said implements.  All this equals a free peepshow for me.  Gotta love it:)

Paradise Post #6

 

Notes: Finally I have a path forward in my head, a clear and present plot.  This means you get Garrett and Robbie and real development.  And more soon, because this is working on me now, making me love it, making me want to go deeper.  We’re going to meet some very interesting people soon.  I don’t know yet if I’m going to love them or hate them.  On verra, as they say in Togo.  We’ll see.

 

Title: Paradise

 

Part Six: Trip On Guilt, Stumble Over Honesty

 

***

 

                At 0300 in the morning, not even a day after arriving on Paradise, Garrett shouldn’t have been awake.  No matter that the artificial days and nights on his ship didn’t match up perfectly with the cycle on Paradise, it had still been an exhaustively long day, and Garrett should have been too tired to be up. In truth, he was too tired to be up.  There was nothing he wanted more than to be nestled face-first into the gigantic bed in his ridiculous suite, taking up more than his fair share of the space and getting away with it because Jonah was good that way.  He could be sleeping in his fiance’s arms right now, and instead he was dressed (in loose, informal house clothes, but still, dressed was dressed) and making his way to the juncture of the Governor’s mansion and the military’s headquarters.  All because Robbie had to “talk.”

                Garrett didn’t care for Robbie’s talks.  They usually had the dual purpose of shaming and educating him, and just anticipating it was making Garrett preemptively defensive.  The worst of it was, no matter what Robbie had on his mind, it was probably worth listening to.  Because he couldn’t be happy with being a superior human being, he had to try to improve everyone else too.  Fucker.  Some of Garrett’s most epic bitch sessions with Wyl had been on this very subject, although Wyl was better about having his imperfections pointed out to him than Garrett was.

                It wasn’t until the marines let Garrett into Robbie’s office and went off to fetch their commanding officer that Garrett realized, a little too late to be useful, that when Robbie had said, “We need to talk soon,” and given him that meaningful look, he might have meant sometime during the actual day, not at 0300 in the morning.  But the prospect had gnawed at Garrett, taking tiny, vicious bites out of his subconscious until he had given sleep up as a bad deal and forced himself up with a sigh.

                If he had been a little more forthcoming, Garrett probably could have avoided this whole conundrum in the first place.  He knew what this talk was going to be about.  But honestly, it wasn’t relevant—it wasn’t—that there was a Drifter ship in orbit above Paradise.  There were hundreds of clans, probably thousands of ships.  There was no reason for this one to be important, not even to Jonah.  So why bother mentioning it?  It might not be relevant, but Garrett knew it would perturb his lover; Jonah was the type to brood if he thought he could get away with it.  Garrett had just been saving them all some grief.  And naturally, of course, Robbie was about to undo all that patient circumspection with his own brand of taking care of someone, which was forthrightness, honesty and a bunch of other crap.

                “When I said ‘talk,’” Robbie’s voice said from the door, and Garrett swiveled around in the chair he had claimed to face him, “I didn’t mean ‘wake me up to come and deal with your issues at all hours.’”

                “Not true,” Garrett teased with a smile, determined to get his jabs in while he still had a leg to stand on.  “You never put limitations on discussions of serious subjects.  You should, it would make you a healthier and more rested person, but you don’t.  I can only assume that’s the military training taking over your greatly diminished free will.”

                “Do not be an asshole to me right now, Gare, I’m this close to yelling at you,” Robbie growled.  He had on grey gi pants and a black t-shirt, and he looked completely edible.  Robbie had always worn “annoyed” so well, with that little line between his eyebrows and the harder line of his mouth.  Garrett appreciated the fact that he could look and not want, now.  It made the teasing easier.  “You were supposed to let Jonah know about the Drifters.”

                “I don’t really see why.”

                “Because it’s something that might affect him and you’re supposed to discuss things like that with your significant other, Gare.”

                “Still not seeing the relevancy.”

                Robbie rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.  “Here’s some relevancy for you: that ship has been up there for over a standard month, keeping a careful distance from the surface and only trading through intermediaries, like most Drifter ships do.  Now all of a sudden, just minutes after Jonah landed your ship actually, they want permission to dock a shuttle.  Not just that, they want to dock it in the closest port in Rapture to the mansion.  Any guesses as to what prompted their sudden request?”

                Garrett had spent his entire life surrounded by tacticians.  It didn’t take more than a second to figure out what Robbie was referring to, and why it had taken him and Miles away from the group yesterday.  “Oh, damn it.  They must have a skimmer.”

                “Exactly,” Robbie agreed.  “They heard Jonah’s transmission to the Tower here, recognized the accent and now someone’s curious.  That in and of itself isn’t a problem, but…”

                “If they heard that, what else have they been listening to?” Garrett finished.  He felt really tired all of a sudden, tired down to his bones, tired on the inside of his skull, just behind his eyes.  “They’ve been listening to ship transmissions going into and out of Paradise.”

                “With a pretty high tech skimmer, because we didn’t detect anything when we inspected them before allowing them a long term space dock,” Robbie said.  “It’s just circumstantial right now, but I’m betting that tomorrow we’ll start seeing some of them in town, asking questions, trying to get in touch.  I think they’re interested in Jonah.  I’ve got several theories on why.”

                “And you want me to facilitate testing those theories by telling Jonah about these newly loquacious Drifters.”

                “He can hear it from you, or he can hear it from me,” Robbie said.  He was wearing his “determined” face now, and Garrett knew there was no gainsaying it.  “For all I know they just caught a sliver of conversation and someone recognized him and wants to say hello.  Drifters are a very insular, tightly bound society, it’s not impossible that Jonah misses certain aspects of it.  He shouldn’t be denied the right to make a connection just because you’re nervous.”

                “Fuck you.”

                “No thanks.”  They sat and stared at each other in silence for a minute.  “What are you really worried about?”

                “Nothing I can put a name to,” Garrett said morosely, resigned at this point to telling Robbie the truth.

                “Is it the wedding?”

                “Only insofar as I wish the wedding was over already so that I could have proof that Jonah and Cody belong to me.”

                “They’re here, with you.  Isn’t that proof enough?”

                “It’s never enough,” Garrett scoffed.  “You know me, I want a dozen impossible things done for me before breakfast, just to feel secure enough to go about the day.”

                “You’ve gotten a lot better, Gare,” Robbie said soothingly.

                “Yes, well.  It’s always a relative measure.”  He sat quiet under Robbie’s gaze, then gave him a half-smile as his former lover walked over to him and clasped his shoulder in one broad, warm hand.

                “You’ll be fine,” Robbie stated.  No prevarication, just belief.  “Both of you.  You’ll tell him in the morning?”

                “Yes,” Garrett sighed.  “Can I make it seem like I just learned it, or does that not queue up with your code of honor?”

                “Whatever makes you more comfortable.”  Robbie squeezed his shoulder, then let go.  “Now, I’m going back to bed.  Wyl won’t get any sleep if I don’t.”

                “Aww, you’re his teddy-Robin,” Garrett cooed, happy to have a change of subject.

                “Don’t call me that.”

                “But it’s your legal name, Robin of Locksley.”

                “Go to bed, Gare.”  Robbie left, and Garrett swung the chair back and forth in a 90 degree arc, rhythmic and blank.  Go to bed.  He could do that; in fact most of him yearned to slide back into his warm bed and cuddle up to his own teddy-Jonah.  But he was awake now, wide awake and pensive and jittery, and he’d be a miserable bedmate at this point.  Better to let Jonah sleep.  Coffee was what he needed, and some time alone.  By the time his fiance woke up, Garrett would have worked out what he needed to do, he’d have found that fine line between Robbie’s abject honestly and his own penchant for obfuscation.

                Coffee, then deep thoughts.  Garrett got up and headed toward Claudia’s kitchen.