෴Raz෴
෴Hex෴
෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴
Night Fight and Pillow Talk
෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴
Raz woke to the feeling of being shaken. He sat up and barely managed to direct the vomit onto the side Hex wasn’t on. His first clear thought was: This isn't at all what I envisioned when you said shopping trip.
He thought better of actually saying it.
“Did we jus—” he retched again, but nothing came out. “Did we teleport?”
“That wasn’t a teleport, stay quiet, we’re not safe here.” she whispered urgently.
“Where are we?” he whispered.
Yesterday I wouldn’t have been sweating it. Now I’ve seen snakes the size of semis and fought a rat the size of a horse. Don’t panic, just stay cool. If things get too bad maybe she can evac us. Bee, are we near one of those incursion things?
[I am not detecting any of the signs detected in the vicinity of the one Midnight took us to. At the very least, we’re nowhere near as close as we were.]
He allowed himself to relax just a touch before realizing that she hadn’t answered him.
Taking in the surroundings, he cataloged what he could perceive. The sky seemed a bit brighter on one of the horizons. The air carried the scents of dust, iron oxide, spent gunpowder, the melange of subtle scents he associated with Hex, and a faint trace of urea and ammonia, along with another unidentified scent. It smelled like—roasted caramel popcorn.
That’s a weird smell. Not bad, but if we turn out to be near some kind of demon circus I think that might be more than I can handle.
He could hear the soft impacts and clicking of many clawed feet moving around in front of them on the rock studded terrain. Hex crouched next to him, rifle in hand. She panned the weapon back and forth, shining the attached light around them. They were in a small alcove surrounded by steep rock walls.
“What’s happening?” he whispered.
“Something out there.” she replied without stopping her scan. “Some things, out there, I mean.”
Raz got to his feet willing his perceptions up. “Where are we?”
“No idea!” she whispered urgently.
Weird. I figured she’d be able to tell where she is in relation to the rest of her. Good to know I guess. Bee, I need help with identifying constellations.
[That is not a strong area for HUD assistance, you have not spent much time stargazing.]
Raz mentally swiped the message away. I get it, just help me visually ID any constellations I can.
He glanced upward and scanned the sky. The rest of his senses fell away for an instant as his vision snapped into super focus. The Southern Cross and Centaurus flared and highlighted in his vision. An instant later Carina and a series of lines filled in on the sky pointing south. “Oh. That was easier than I expected. We’re in the Southern Hemisphere. Southern part of Africa or, well more likely somewhere in Australia I’d guess.”
She didn’t reply, just softly cursed. “Probably Australia then. The expansion zone in Africa is in the middle of the eastern Sahara, southern Chad. We’re in dirt and scrub, not sand.”
He spotted movement out in the darkness. “You’re right, there is something, looks like multiple things out there.”
She caught a shape in the shaft of light for an instant. It was fast moving, with reflective eyes and low to the ground.
He spotted several shapes moving in and out of concealment, each with a pair of glowing yellow-green eyes.
“Have you hit any of them?”
She snapped the rifle over at some movement near a small outcropping of rock. “No. Fired once, missed. I’ve only got two magazines! Can’t waste ammo! Better hope it’s not Africa. We’re a little undergunned for Africa.”
He picked up a fist sized rock and flung it out at one of the still shapes hiding from the light. The rock struck true. The creature whimpered and scurried away.
Raz spared a glance at the rifle. “Can you take the suppressor off and fire once?”
“We haven’t got the ammo to spare! We have to hold out till daylight. These chimera’s will kill us if we run out of ammo.”
He whipped another rock at one of the creatures hiding out of sight of the light. He caught a glimpse of blonde yellow fur as it spun and fled when hit.
A whimper followed by a harsh barking sound sealed his guess.
“I don’t think these are chimeras. I—I think we’re in Australia, and those are dingos.”
She cocked her head at him. “Are you sure?”
He glanced at the sky again. “Well, pretty sure about this being Australia, and if those were chimeras, wouldn't they just charge in right away? I don’t recall a lot of stealth and pack behaviour from them. They don’t look or sound like Hyenas or Jackals.”
She kept her eye on the thin wedge of light stabbing out into the darkness from her rifle. “You’re right. Ok, I’ll try that.”
A moment later her rifle spat fire and thunder as she took aim and fired at one of the fast-moving shadowy shapes. There was a soft yip but no other sounds to indicate a hit.
Several of the shapes in the darkness sped away from the sound. Raz shielded his eyes from the bright weaponlight and crouched down next to Hex. “Do you mind turning the light off? I’ll keep my eyes out and tell you when to turn it on. They seem to be avoiding getting caught in the light.”
She nodded, “Ok, but don’t let them get too close!”
If I have anything like real night vision, now’s the time.
The light clicked off and the world shifted. The faintly lit edge of the eastern sky ahead of him became a nearly blinding jagged edge of light. The dark shadows resolved into greys and purples. The sand and rocks around them stood out in the suddenly brilliant starlight. Strange ghostly double images followed his hands as he moved them in the artificial twilight the near total darkness had become for him.
Ok, that’s a weird effect.
[Some visual artifacts may occur due to image stitching.]
So this is like the mirrors.
[Yes.]
“Well, it looks like only a few got scared off. I think we’re going to have to take some of them out.” he whispered.
An undercurrent of tension and irritation filled her reply. “I was trying! I can’t see a thing without the light!”
Raz nodded before realizing that of course she couldn’t see that. He pulled off the right gauntlet and set it aside.
“I can see ok, can I have the rifle?”
She made a disbelieving sound, but flicked the safety on, unslung the rifle and pushed it in his direction.
“Don’t waste the ammo, it’s all we have till we get back to the bags. With that she held up the second magazine.
“I don’t need the other mag, just the suppressor.”
The lupine shapes circled closer, sniffing the air and vocalizing softly at each other with soft yips and low grumbling howls.
She pulled it from a pocket and held it up so he could take it from her. “I thought you wanted more noise.”
He started to nod again. It’s hard to reconcile her being so blind while I can see!
“I did, but it didn’t work, so now I need to not blind and deafen myself. Ok, they’re getting brave, cover your eyes and ears, I’m going to have to shoot some of them. Backup a few feet.”
She shuffled backwards. He noticed she’d drawn her knife even as her eyes stared sightlessly into the darkness, and made a mental note not to stumble into her.
Without the light to tell them where he was looking, the dingos had grown bold. Raz waited until a pair of them darted in toward them, and pushed deep into slow time.
The world around him brightened further, the two dingos leaving long trails of vision persistence as they charged toward him. Raz felt as though he were moving through drying concrete. The rifle felt heavy in his hands as he pulled hard to get it into position. As soon as the first one was on target he fired. The flash went on for a long time, as the bolt cycled painfully slowly. He used the long cycle time to force the rifle onto target for the next shot. The movement in preparation for the second target along with the bolt cycling felt as though it took several seconds. As soon as the trigger finally reset he fired a second time and used the muzzle flip to speed him back to his first target. At this range it was clearly more doglike than a wolf. The two dingos fell to the dirt. Neither was dead, but it was clear the wounds were mortal.
The sudden strong scent of blood and the pained sounds of the two fallen dingos seemed to be the final straw to the others. The rest of them faded off into the darkness, scattering into the night.
He glanced back at Hex, who was still crouched there with her hand and knife raised.
“We’re good, they took off.” He kept scanning the edge of his sightline just in case.
She put the knife away and sagged back in relief. “Good. I was just thinking how ironic it would be to survive all those chimeras and that shapeshifter the other day and die to a bunch of damn dingos.”
“Are you ok? What happened after we went through the door?”
She resheathed the knife and peered blindly out into the night. The door dropped us off somewhere back there behind us.” she pointed past the rock formation at their back. “You flew through the door really fast and hit your head. You were pretty out of it.”
Raz stared at a movement out in the desert for a moment before determining it was just a bush moving in the breeze. “How did we get here?”
“What do you mean? We walked, well, I walked, you staggered along tripping over everything, as fast as we could to a slightly more defensible position, this grand fortress around us, with those damn dogs on our trail the whole time. When we got here you just sat down for a few minutes and then got back up and started asking questions.”
[Dingos and dogs are not interchangeable.]
I doubt she cares at the moment.
Raz scanned through the messages since the door, taking note of another bout of the
Dare I ask what you did during that emergency? You didn’t spend all the catalyst on new curtains or anything right?
[I followed designated ally Hex from the site of your injury to this location while channeling a low level Somatic Restoration on the host body.]
[She is correct. I tripped several times. Walking is hard.]
You can move my body and use abilities while I’m incapacitated? Not sure if that’s awesome or terrifying. Either way, we’re going to talk about this later!
[I can barely move your body, and certainly not well.]
[As they say, I won’t be quitting my day job.]
[Using abilities on your behalf is fully within my purview, though as we’ve discussed, your will runs the show.]
The meaning of only having two magazines finally sunk in. “So what happened to our stuff? It’s sort of hard to believe you only brought two magazines to a gunfight.”
“Well I didn’t expect a gunfight!” she snapped with an irritated tone. An instant later she continued, sounding more rueful than irritated. “I should have had a full gear rig on. One for you too. I didn’t expect to get dumped in the middle of nowhere though! Usually I just land in the front yard of his shop. Something’s wrong. I—This isn’t how it usually goes.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Well, at least this cluster isn’t what she expected either.
She pointed the same direction she’d indicated for the door. “As for the other gear, it’s back where we came through if they didn’t tear into it or drag it off somewhere.”
Raz noticed the chill in the air. Sitting down next to her, he pulled her close. “Ok, I hadn’t really noticed, but I have to admit, it’s a bit chilly out here.” They sat and held each other close to gather what warmth they could, sheltered from the chilly breeze.
Just when Raz thought she might be falling asleep, Hex spoke up. “What’s the plan?”
Uh oh, am I the plan maker now?
“I’m thinking we wait for daybreak, and go get our stuff. Then we climb up on this rock and see if there’s anything in sight.” He felt her nod against his chest and squeeze his arm in what he took to be agreement.
“I know this is a weird place for it, but since we’ve got the time, do you mind talking more about your ability? I know I should save this kind of talk for a quiet moment at home, but it seems like we’re just go go go lately.” She said in a soft, hesitant tone. He could hear and feel and even smell an ocean of unspoken anxiety barely balanced by curiosity and several flavors of fear and worry in her question.
Well, she’s been nothing but trustworthy.
“Sure, did you have questions, or do you want me to just go all free-form and tell you a story? I could also tell you about the field trip I took with Midnight.”
She let out a single laugh. “No no no, don’t do that. I want some answers while I’m young. As for your little outing, I don’t need to know what you boys talked about while you were out. I’ll just assume it was all T&A talk sprinkled with alpha posturing. If you’re ok with it, I’ll ask questions, and you only answer if you’re comfortable doing so.”
“And you’ll give me the same disclosure about your own abilities?” he replied.
“Yes, of course.” he could hear the sincerity in her voice.
“That reminds me, I never meant to tell you that you couldn't ask me questions. I just wanted you to know about the whole cultural unwillingness to discuss the details of abilities that I’ve witnessed, so you wouldn’t make the same mistakes I did.” She paused and took his free hand in hers. “I never wanted you to think we can't talk about it.”
He squeezed her hand gently. “I’m glad to hear that. I guess I took it the wrong way.”
She shrugged, “I’d say if ever you’ve had an excuse to be seeing all the glasses as half empty, this would be the week for it. I’ve been trying to figure out how to anticipate your needs after your experiences as a prisoner. I think I’m doing a bad job though.”
He gave her shoulder a light squeeze, “I think you’re doing fine.”
She shook her head. “I’m really not. I’ve had years to get used to all this, the craziness of my multiple life, secret identity, quasi legal job, and you got it all dumped on you the morning after escaping from that place.”
He shuddered, hoping she’d misread it as a shiver. “While we’re being honest, I—there are things about the time I was there that I didn’t tell you about.”
She squeezed him tight. “Is it something you want to talk about?”
He shook his head before realizing she couldn't see that. “Ahh, not really. The guy who was in charge, Braithwaite, had these ‘games’ he liked to put on. The way he did them felt like they were meant to accomplish multiple goals, but the two things I know they were for, were keeping his own people in line, and forcing anyone who manifested an ability to reveal it. I suspect he also just got off on it.”
“That sounds awful. Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“Yeah, maybe later when we’ve got some time we can talk about it, and we’re not sitting outside in the middle of nowhere, but I’d rather not go into it now. Suffice to say it was awful, and I made some tough decisions, managed to piss Braithwaite off even more, and in the end, it didn’t even matter.”
Raz sighed and shook the memories off. “But I should have told you this before. You wondered why I picked up fighting them more or less by hand so well? It’s because it wasn’t my first time doing it.”
She looked up at him, although he could see from her eyes that she couldn’t see his face. “I feel like such a bitch. That’s just one more example of how unfair I’ve been to you in my head. I’ll admit I’ve been silently judging some of your decisions. You told me some of what happened there, but I didn’t really get it.”
She paused for several seconds, searching for the words. “I had this thought as we were fighting our way through that place. It was after we’d passed the point where I assumed you would pull the plug, and you just kept going like you had no other choice.”
Her hand searched for and found his, gripping it tight. “I had the sudden realization, that if you thought going right back into that nightmare there was your best option, it was just confirming proof that I didn’t and don’t have a clue what you’re going through, or what you’d been through.”
He sat there next to her for nearly a minute, thinking about the recent past, his state of mind and her actions. “I…” He wasn’t sure where to start. “Whew, sorry, I’m not sure what—”
Raz felt a knot inside him trying to loosen up. He could feel hot tears welling up in his eyes.
No! I can have an emotional moment without the waterworks. Get yourself together man!
He blinked away the moisture in his eyes and gave Hex another squeeze. He took a shaky breath before continuing. “Sorry, every time I stop and really think about everything, I start to get—a little freaked out. I feel like if I acknowledge just how much is happening, I’ll freak out, freeze up, or something. So I just try to focus on one thing at a time, and mostly fail at that.”
He felt a sob trying to escape and shoved it way down inside him. “I feel like my plate isn’t big enough to deal with everything on it. I mean—”
He paused and tried to organize his swirling thoughts into something coherent. “Even if I totally put aside my own situation of ‘get powerful or spend my life as a lab rat’, there’s just so much more happening. Your thing with work, I don’t even know how to classify that, except as a problem to be solved. I’ve let go of the idea of returning to my old life, but that still leaves me in a place where I need to figure out what my new life looks like. I’m worried about my mom. I don’t know what or where the ‘Marcador’ is. Midnight was freaked out. I mean, you saw that right? He obviously thought it was a big problem, but didn’t tell us anything, like usual. He said goodbye like someone expecting to die or something, but still couldn’t be bothered to tell us anything useful.”
He laughed bitterly. “I really thought he might change if I leveled with him. I’m ok with my old life being gone, but I—”
He paused to take a few more steadying breaths to keep himself from losing his cool. “So, to be clear, I’m over it now. But at the time, I think the feeling that you weren’t, and maybe never had been, who I thought you were, was just, like the last straw for me. I just couldn’t deal with all that, and you being so different. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m happy to be discovering that you’re still you, just, you know.” he paused to come up with the right words. “With more of you to love.”
She burst into laughter. “I am pretty damn sure no other woman has ever heard that as a genuine compliment. I get what you mean though. Don’t make me prove it with a dogpile on you though!”
The thought snapped a new idea into his awareness. “So, while we’re having our heart to heart, I have a dumb question. I know they’re all dressed to party and stuff, but why not change clothes and bring in some reinforcements?”
She shrugged. “I wish I could. But I don’t know where we are.” He started to speak but she shushed him and kept talking. “Yes, I get that we’re probably in Australia. But that isn’t the level of knowing that I need. If we had traveled here any other way, I’d be able to bring other aspects here no problem.”
She shivered and tried to worm her way further onto his lap. “I thought the outback was supposed to be hot! It’s so cold here.”
He wrapped his arm over her. “Well, it’s summer at home, so that makes it winter here, and night time. At least it’s only chilly, and not ‘make a fire or die’ level of cold.”
She shifted around, and finally seemed to find a comfortable position almost onto his lap. “Passing through someone else's gate gives me an unpleasant, I don’t know, sort of dislocated feeling. Other people don’t seem to even notice it, but it's like I had this invisible, almost unnoticed web of spatial knowledge around me, and then I got ripped out of it and dropped somewhere else. You know how some things you don’t even notice till they’re gone, and then you can’t not notice the lack? This is like that.”
“So, you’re just stuck here now?” he asked, hoping his concern for her was clear.
She shook her head slightly. “Well no. I can always release this aspect, lose everything on me, get some energy back, and recreate it somewhere known. So I’m not stuck here. I could release an aspect there, and make a new one here. I could even just spawn a new one here, but either way I’d just be appearing naked here in the wilderness, and that’s not much help.”
“Hey now, I can think of several things another naked you could help with.” He put some playfulness into his voice.
Her tone became robotic, almost droning. “Oh, did you want me to bring in another aspect for sex? Ok, I’ll release an aspect and spawn one here. Which aspect would you like?”
Ugh, does this implanted thing just totally override her common sense?
Raz tried to keep the horror out of his voice. “Uh, now that I think about it, the outback seems like a bad place to try and get frisky. Maybe later.”
“Yes sir, maybe later I will bring more naked aspects to get frisky with us.” she droned.
New todo list. I don’t care what it takes, we’re getting her fixed, and killing what's his name that did it.
Without a direct reply, Raz could feel Bee’s agreement. He stared out into the desert, almost wishing more dingos would show up so he’d have a problem he could solve with the rifle.
Suddenly she burst into laughter. “Oh man, I am so heartless. You just poured your heart out, including being worried for me, and I’m sitting here making jokes about it. The worst part is, I still wish I could have seen your face just now.”
Raz looked at her and started to frown before remembering she couldn’t see him. “What do you mean?”
She peered around blindly up toward his face. “Promise not to be mad?”
“Uh, how about I promise that if I do get mad, I’ll try not to stay mad.”
She smiled. “That’ll have to do. So I have a little confession. Wilson, oh, he’s the big boss at WD40 if I didn’t mention it. Well, the truth is his whammy, whatever it was, only lasted a few hours.”
That sounds like good news so far. What’s the catch?
“Ok, go on.” he prompted when she paused.
“What can I say. It lined up really well with one of my deeper kinks. So, I was just enjoying the feeling of being able to live it out a little more fully, but you’ve been pretty clearly getting freaked out about it, so I figure right now, while I don’t have to look at your judgy face, I ca—”
“Hey, my face is not judgy!” he interjected.
“Fair point, but the risk of it becoming judgy makes it easier to say this in the dark. It’s not easy to talk about.”
He stroked her cheek. “Take your time, my face is currently totally non-judgy.”
She took a deep breath and let it out, along with an undercurrent of tension he’d noticed building in her shoulders and back. “Ok, so to be clear, that whammy, or mojo, or whatever, it did hit me pretty hard for those few hours. It was like all the things I’d confessed had been made more true, so much more true.”
She trailed off. Raz kept his eyes on the terrain around them while glancing down at her as often as he could.
After several minutes of the two of them sitting in silence, she continued. “Look, I’ve shown you more of my inner dirt than anyone else has ever even had hints about.”
She paused for a bare fraction of a second. “I love that you’ve always been so ready to try things that speak to my darker side.”
She tailed off again, but seemed to be wanting some kind of response.
Raz gently ran his finger along the edge of her ear. “Honestly, I don’t know what you mean by your darker side. I mean, the WD40 and Midnight double life is all pretty crazy, and it hit me so hard at first. But it’s hardly worthy of being called a dark side.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “You know what I mean!”
He sighed. “Pretend I’m stupid. Seriously, do the whole, explain it like I’m a five year old.”
She made a ‘hmmf’ sound. “Uh, no. Nothing about this conversation is remotely appropriate for five year olds.”
Oh—Oh, she’s talking about a sex thing.
[You must have a lingering head trauma.]
[Or that cognition cost is worse than predicted.]
[Even I got that, and I’m using the same head.]
[Recommend further use of Somatic Restoration on yourself.]
Raz noted Bee’s comments.
I’ll do that as soon as I have a minute to focus on it.
“So tell me like you want me to understand.”
She shuddered. “You’re actually going to make me spell it out?! I can’t decide if that’s utterly humiliating, or kind of hot because it’s utterly humiliating.”
This time he didn’t break the ensuing silence.
“So, you know I like some kinky stuff right?”
He smiled at her, although she couldn't see it. “Why yes, I am peripherally, slightly, a little bit, aware of this. You’ve got quite a collection of toys, and we’ve played some fun games.”
“Ok, so, what I—Well, what I mean to say is, there's more.” she whispered.
Oh jeez, was this all role play to her? Not sure if I should be turned on or pissed off. It would have been so much more fun if I knew it was just a game.
“Go on.” he kept his voice level.
“Well, I like power games. More than just the stuff in the bedroom. I mean, it extends into, or out of, the bedroom, however you want to think of it.”
She paused and swallowed audibly. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t come up with that scenario in the seconds I had. It’s been a fantasy of mine for years. I guess I let it go too far while I was really feeling the effect of Wilson’s ability.”
“I think I understand.” He said cautiously.
“Wait, there’s one more thing. If I don’t say it now I’m not sure I’ll have the nerve later.”
He waited in silence for her to continue.
“During that time, the idea of making it real was just so strong, it gave me the courage to admit to my darker urges. You don’t have to call them dark, but trust me, as a woman in this day and age, it’s pretty clear that my fantasy life is at best considered ‘problematic’ by more than a few people out there.”
“But who cares what they think? You do you, and I doubt most men have a problem with a few extra kinks. I know I don’t.”
“Ugh, I have to stop dancing around the truth. I’ll just say it. I used that mental effect as a way to reveal and live out some of my more hardcore fantasies. I can’t honestly say I regret it, but I do regret, and I’m sorry for, making you worry.”
“Did it feel true at the time?”
She nodded, “It really did, I think if you had rolled with it, it would have only gotten more true, more solidified. Maybe even stayed real. I think a big part of me in the moment, just figured you’d roll with it, and stay in the game till it was permanent.”
And now we’re back to that ability being kind of scary.
He lifted her head up and gently kissed her. “Babe, I’ll be honest right back at you. Your fantasies are super hot. If you want to play that stuff out any time, I’m game. Not gonna lie, I don’t really get the money thing, but I’m sure I can get into it enough for us to have a good time. The fact that it gets you going so well is enough all on it’s own. I would have been so much more into it if I hadn’t been so scared for you.”
“So all's forgiven?” she asked.
“More like nothing to forgive. What we do in private isn’t anyone else's business anyway. Just don’t scare me like that. You need to realize, I was flat out going to murder this, Wilson, was it?”
She let out a huge sigh of relief, as though a weight had been lifted. “Whew, I’m so glad to have that out there. And yeah, don’t murder Wilson. He’s a jerk, but he doesn’t deserve that.”
She hugged him tight. “So... What on earth were we even talking about before that impromptu dirty sex therapy session?”
“For the record, we’re surrounded by far too much literal dirt, and there was not nearly enough sex involved, to call it sex therapy.”
“Says you. That was hardcore intimacy therapy for me. Besides, a little dirt never bothered you before. Remember that time up near Toccoa Falls? We were so muddy by the end. Now that was some dirty fun.“
“Alright, you got me there, although this is a lot more rough, dry, and gritty than it was there. I still think you owe me that dogpile you were talking about.” He countered.
She went monotone. “Yes sir, of course sir, I will bring as many aspects to bed with us as you like, and pay you for the privilege.”
She giggled and continued in her normal voice. “By the way, I am serious about that. It’s more than just an offer, it’s something I want as well. I realize the logistics of the two person orgy will always be a challenge, but it’s worth doing once in a while! Not to mention, for me, being able to show my whole self to someone is actually pretty awesome for me.”
She paused, “But seriously, what were we talking about?”