jeriendhal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jeriendhal) wrote2008-11-06 10:30 am
jeriendhal) wrote2008-11-06 10:30 am
Entry tags:
Fic: Stranger Tides
Just noodling a bit while I try and recover momentum on Andrea's Story.
Universe: Grace of God
Timeframe: Midway through "Spin Recovery"
Characters: Alt-Melika, Rolas
Rating: PG
“Well, that was one of the stranger dinner parties we’ve ever attended,” Rolas said to his wife Melika, as they seated themselves in the back of their skimmer. Their driver raised the privacy partition, and Melika quickly unbuckled her safety harness to lay her footpads over his lap, as was her custom. He started rubbing them as they drove away from Brushtail Manor, eliciting a sigh of contentment from her.
“Oh, yes. A fine public row, a mysterious twin. Very strange indeed,” she said.
“That couldn’t have been the same fellow we saw at the transfer station, could it?”
“I can’t see how, unless he was lying about when he lost his arm. Plus, he looked positively wrung out, and not just from the amputation.”
“Wrung out? He looked sick. Do you suppose the rumors about what he was doing after the Blue Horizon incident were true?”
She paused and sat up on her elbows. “I know for a fact that they were true. Five years ago the Red Vixen was conducting some business out at… well, I won’t name the place.”
“My ears aren’t that delicate, dear,” Rolas said. “I know the Red Vixen goes to some places that the Lady Melika Softpaw would rather die than be caught in.”
“Just the same, even the Red Vixen was a little uncomfortable being there. But it was, after all, business. Anyway, we went out to a bar after concluding our negotiations. Well, a dive really.”
“Shocking, absolutely shocking,” Rolas deadpanned. For that he earned a gentle kick to his ribs before she continued.
“Anyway, I was the only vulpine in the room, or so I thought. When I got up to leave however, I saw a male in the corner of the room. At first I thought he was merely drunk, but then I saw his eyes were dilated to an alarming degree and there was an empty medication injector on his table.”
He frowned. “Hard drugs?”
“So I believe.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t recognize you back there.”
“The way he was looking in the bar, I doubt if he’d have recognized his own face. I was in my disguise after all.”
“All right, but that still doesn’t answer the question as to who that person we met at the transfer station was. I got close enough to smell them both, and they were the same male. Except one had an arm and the other didn’t.”
“And one had his full wits and health as well. I doubt if that smooth fellow would have let his dinner companion stomp out so ungraciously. This is a mystery.”
“I don’t know, maybe he’s Lord Ru Ofanius’ secret clone brother or something.”
Melika raised an eyebrow at this, but paused to consider it seriously. “For what purpose?”
“Substitution plot?”
“That’s a touch baroque. Besides, he’s not the family heir.”
“It’s unfair of you to use logic at this hour.” He ran his claws lightly over her foot pad, deflecting another kick as she stifled a giggle. “There must be answer.”
"Maybe, but we aren’t going to find it here. Perhaps it’s time to dust off the Red Vixen and see what she can find.”
He paused for a long moment. Outside the skimmer’s windows, the lights of the highway zoomed past, like orderly stars viewed from the bridge of a ship flying at superluminal.
“You don’t like that idea, do you, my husband?”
“Melika, you said after the cubs were born you’d give her up. It isn’t as we need the money, not with my family holding the countship.”
“It was never about the money, Rolas. It was about the freedom.”
“And is being my mate so confining now?”
She rose up and sat across his lap, resting her head on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck softly. “Never that, dear Rolas. But there are places that the Red Vixen might go that Lady Melika never could. And I won’t deny that this strange Lord Rufus has her curiosity piqued.”
He stroked her headfur, and was rewarded with a soft sigh of contentment. “There are other ways of trying to track down the fellow.”
“Mmm… are you scared for me, dear husband? I promise I’ll be careful.”
He looked into her golden green eyes. “No, I’m scared for myself. I know what I was like before you entered my life, love. I don’t want to ever be that person again, that lonely again.”
She let him hold her for a long while before speaking, “If you tell me no, I won’t go.”
He sighed and held her a little closer. “I won’t.”
“You want to.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
“You could tell me that the risk is too much. That if I was finally caught the shame I brought down on our family would never be lived down.”
“I could.”
“Why not?”
“Because that would mean denying you a piece of your soul, and I would never do that to you, my beloved.”
She nodded, but said nothing more until the skimmer pulled up to their home and they reluctantly disentangled themselves before their driver could open the door.
“I’ll be home soon, I promise my love,” she said, as they walked towards the front door.
“I know.”
The End
Universe: Grace of God
Timeframe: Midway through "Spin Recovery"
Characters: Alt-Melika, Rolas
Rating: PG
“Well, that was one of the stranger dinner parties we’ve ever attended,” Rolas said to his wife Melika, as they seated themselves in the back of their skimmer. Their driver raised the privacy partition, and Melika quickly unbuckled her safety harness to lay her footpads over his lap, as was her custom. He started rubbing them as they drove away from Brushtail Manor, eliciting a sigh of contentment from her.
“Oh, yes. A fine public row, a mysterious twin. Very strange indeed,” she said.
“That couldn’t have been the same fellow we saw at the transfer station, could it?”
“I can’t see how, unless he was lying about when he lost his arm. Plus, he looked positively wrung out, and not just from the amputation.”
“Wrung out? He looked sick. Do you suppose the rumors about what he was doing after the Blue Horizon incident were true?”
She paused and sat up on her elbows. “I know for a fact that they were true. Five years ago the Red Vixen was conducting some business out at… well, I won’t name the place.”
“My ears aren’t that delicate, dear,” Rolas said. “I know the Red Vixen goes to some places that the Lady Melika Softpaw would rather die than be caught in.”
“Just the same, even the Red Vixen was a little uncomfortable being there. But it was, after all, business. Anyway, we went out to a bar after concluding our negotiations. Well, a dive really.”
“Shocking, absolutely shocking,” Rolas deadpanned. For that he earned a gentle kick to his ribs before she continued.
“Anyway, I was the only vulpine in the room, or so I thought. When I got up to leave however, I saw a male in the corner of the room. At first I thought he was merely drunk, but then I saw his eyes were dilated to an alarming degree and there was an empty medication injector on his table.”
He frowned. “Hard drugs?”
“So I believe.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t recognize you back there.”
“The way he was looking in the bar, I doubt if he’d have recognized his own face. I was in my disguise after all.”
“All right, but that still doesn’t answer the question as to who that person we met at the transfer station was. I got close enough to smell them both, and they were the same male. Except one had an arm and the other didn’t.”
“And one had his full wits and health as well. I doubt if that smooth fellow would have let his dinner companion stomp out so ungraciously. This is a mystery.”
“I don’t know, maybe he’s Lord Ru Ofanius’ secret clone brother or something.”
Melika raised an eyebrow at this, but paused to consider it seriously. “For what purpose?”
“Substitution plot?”
“That’s a touch baroque. Besides, he’s not the family heir.”
“It’s unfair of you to use logic at this hour.” He ran his claws lightly over her foot pad, deflecting another kick as she stifled a giggle. “There must be answer.”
"Maybe, but we aren’t going to find it here. Perhaps it’s time to dust off the Red Vixen and see what she can find.”
He paused for a long moment. Outside the skimmer’s windows, the lights of the highway zoomed past, like orderly stars viewed from the bridge of a ship flying at superluminal.
“You don’t like that idea, do you, my husband?”
“Melika, you said after the cubs were born you’d give her up. It isn’t as we need the money, not with my family holding the countship.”
“It was never about the money, Rolas. It was about the freedom.”
“And is being my mate so confining now?”
She rose up and sat across his lap, resting her head on his shoulder, nuzzling his neck softly. “Never that, dear Rolas. But there are places that the Red Vixen might go that Lady Melika never could. And I won’t deny that this strange Lord Rufus has her curiosity piqued.”
He stroked her headfur, and was rewarded with a soft sigh of contentment. “There are other ways of trying to track down the fellow.”
“Mmm… are you scared for me, dear husband? I promise I’ll be careful.”
He looked into her golden green eyes. “No, I’m scared for myself. I know what I was like before you entered my life, love. I don’t want to ever be that person again, that lonely again.”
She let him hold her for a long while before speaking, “If you tell me no, I won’t go.”
He sighed and held her a little closer. “I won’t.”
“You want to.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
“You could tell me that the risk is too much. That if I was finally caught the shame I brought down on our family would never be lived down.”
“I could.”
“Why not?”
“Because that would mean denying you a piece of your soul, and I would never do that to you, my beloved.”
She nodded, but said nothing more until the skimmer pulled up to their home and they reluctantly disentangled themselves before their driver could open the door.
“I’ll be home soon, I promise my love,” she said, as they walked towards the front door.
“I know.”
The End