Authors: Joseph Picard
Maxine almost dropped her spear. “What
the hell!?”
“
Meh.”
“
Xylophone?”
“
Just the first thing that
popped into my head. It was either that or goat. But dishonouring a
goat had other ugly connotations.”
“
I... suppose it would!
What’s got you in such a good mood?”
Cassidy smirked and shrugged. “Good
night’s sleep, I guess.” She swirled her spear
dramatically.
Maxine smirked back. “Why do I think
there’s a bit more to it than that?”
For a split second, Cassidy considered
telling Maxine about how potentially distracting she found Cheryl,
but thought better of it. No need to fuel any gossipy-thought. Bad
enough that Cipriana felt she knew. She changed the subject as she
went into some very aggressive movements aimed at an invisible foe.
“Nah. I think I’m just getting used to this place. Hey, odd
question...”
“
Yeah?” Maxine started her
own slow routine again.
“
I just saw Marcus
meditating like Cip does. It made me wonder.. are those two an item
or something?”
“
Hm.” Maxine stopped, and
leaned on her spear. “Funny you should say that.. I remember once
wondering the same thing. But I’m pretty sure they’re not.” She
continued her routine. “He's almost old enough to be her dad.
Besides, it’s not like meditation is rare around here. A lot of us
do it.”
“
Really. Wow, I never knew
this was such a zen unit.”
“
Marcus blames the ghost.”
Maxine said, ending a wide stroke with her spear pointing at the
temple. “Says it’s a peaceful influence.”
Cassidy shrugged. Might explain the odd
look she’d seen in Marcus’ eyes sometimes. Other people here also
had the same unusual expression sometimes. But come to think of it,
she hadn’t noticed it so much anymore. “Max’.. I got another odd
question.” She stopped and leaned on her spear again.
“
Shoot.”
“
Do people outside of the
unit ever.. look at you funny?”
Maxine leaned on her spear as well, and
smiled a little. “Thousand year stare.”
“
Huh?”
Maxine’s voice came almost like she was
quoting something from rote. “Being this close to this ancient
place, being at peace. It changes you. People notice you’re
different, but they don’t know why.”
“
Marcus again?”
Maxine nodded. “Says people aren’t used
to seeing a soldier looking so at peace.”
Cassidy chuckled. “Well, I don’t feel
much different, but I guess I’ve already developed the stare. I had
a weird time when I went back to central.”
“
It’s kind of like jumping
out of a warm shower and into a draft, huh? It takes a bit to get
used to that whole mindset again.”
“
Hm.” Made sense maybe. And
with the whole Brandy breakup, that whole memory was sitting there
waiting for her at central. It struck her that the rebound-factor
was a whole other reason to not drool over Cheryl too much. Drool
on Cheryl’s cute-factor, and write her off as a romantic
impossibility. Rebound from afar. Yes. A good plan. Besides, she
didn’t even know Cheryl. “So, have you met the new girl
yet?”
Maxine smirked “Yeah… cute
huh?”
“
What? I guess. I didn’t
notice. I wasn’t really looking. Is she?”
“
You didn’t notice? Cass,
I’m straight, and I noticed.”
Cassidy replied in a somewhat hasty
tone. “What? What, you think just cuz I’m a lesbian, I’m on the
prowl all the time? It’s not like I can’t separate personal and
professional things.”
“
I think thou doth protest
too much.”
“
Oh, shush.”
After a while, Cassidy headed back to
the base. This place was too small to keep a secret. Little
detectives like Maxine were sure to have rumors floating around
soon enough. Not that she resented it exactly. Maxine … heck,
everyone was nice enough about things, but if people got it in
their heads that she liked Cheryl, her efforts to ignore the notion
herself would become moot. No doubt some well-meaning compatriot,
probably Maxine, would investigate the possibility of Cassidy and
Cheryl becoming an item. And she had already decided she wasn’t
going down that path. Maxine would just find out Cheryl was
straight, and probably trigger some kind of awkwardness.
She should nip this in the bud. Talk to
Maxine about it. Lay her cards on the table before people start
guessing. Well, not all her cards. Talk about the Brandy/rebound
thing, and just avoid mentioning Cheryl altogether. Yes. A cunning
plan.
Cassidy went to the mess and downed a
sandwich as a late lunch, and nabbed a couple cookies. There was
still a lot of time before her watch, but it might be a good idea
to try to nap now. She didn’t know if she’d have much time between
the end of watch and the coming of Grand Elder Armil.
She went back to the barrack and made
small talk with Cipriana and Wanda, then settled into her bunk, and
pulled the brim of her hat down an extra few
centimetres.
Wouldn’t you know it, the second you
get comfy, nature calls. She got up and headed to the washroom.
Someone was in one of the shower stalls. She ignored whoever it was
and did what she came to do. Cassidy was almost back in the hall
when she heard a little yelp of surprise.
“
You okay in there?” Cassidy
asked, ambling towards the stall.
The voice replied, “Um. There’s
something in here.”
“
Is that Cheryl?”
“
Yeah, there’s a lizard in
here!”
Cassidy chuckled to herself. Maybe this
was a rite of passage around here. Well, now Cassidy knew it was
Cheryl’s bare ankles she could see. Nice ankles. Not that she
didn’t see them before, but these were the bare ankles of a nekkid
Cheryl. “Oh, those things are harmless. They apparently wander in
here chasing the moisture.”
“
Well... what am I supposed
to do?” Cheryl sounded a little unnerved.
“
Ignore it? Sometimes I talk
to them. And no, they don’t talk back.”
“
I.. er.. it’s
creepy!”
Cassidy thought she was being a bit
silly. Quite un-military. But it was also somewhat cute. “Uhm.. I’d
come in and help, but unless you shower in a swimsuit.. uh…
nekkidness.“ It wasn’t outside normalcy for military comrades to
see each other naked in the shower but when possible, Cassidy
avoided it. “Well, where is it?”
“
It’s smack dab in the
middle of the divider on my right.”
“
Kay. I got an idea. Stand
against the back wall.” Cassidy walked into the adjoining
stall.
“
Uh.. why?”
“
Because if this doesn’t
work like I think, the lizard is going to fly across the stall, at
the opposite wall.”
Cheryl hastily got against the back
wall. “What the heck are you going to do?”
Cassidy steadied her left shoulder
against the opposite side of the metal partition, and punched
sharply with her right fist. Without hesitation, she dropped to the
floor. On the other side, the falling lizard caused Cheryl to yelp
a little again. Cassidy quickly reached out to grab it.
“
See? They’re nice.” She
held her hand under the partition, showing Cheryl the securely held
critter. It was only now that Cassidy realized she could see
Cheryl’s nekkid knees. Oooh, knees.
“
Okay, that’s nice,
thankyou. I don’t need to see any more.”
Cassidy stood, and looked at her
captive lizard closely with a smile. “Aeki aeki, aeki.”
“
Achy?” Cheryl asked,
continuing with her shower.
“
Aeki! That’s what they’re
called. You should really try to like them. They’re pretty common
around here. Anyway, I’ll take him outside.” Cassidy started on her
way out.
“
Kay! Thanks again
Cassie!”
Cassidy stopped mid-stride for a
moment. ‘Cassie’? Cassie. She always hated that nickname. She
almost corrected Cheryl… but coming from her… it didn’t sound so
bad. She kept going, and smiled at her little squirming friend,
asking it questions via imaginary telepathy. “So, little aeki..
can’t resist peekin', can you? May as well tell me. Did you take
pictures?”
Cassidy made it outside and went a few
metres further to a chunk of ruined wall from another building.
Before setting the lizard down on it, she spoke to it out loud.
“So? Last chance.” She held it up and looked it in the eye. “Not
talkin’? Fine. What good are ya?” She put it down, and turned to
see Marcus strolling out.
He stopped to ask Cassidy “Interrogate
lizards a lot?”
Cassidy huffed a small laugh, and
saluted sharply. “Sir! After apprehending the insurgent, the aeki
was decidedly uncooperative. It was not violent or armed, so I’m
just kicking the bum out! Sir!”
Marcus righted his posture and saluted
back. “Very well Leftenent Cassidy! Keep up the good work! As you
were!” He then continued on his way.
Cassidy woke from her power-nap in
plenty of time to put herself together for her next watch. She had
slept better than she expected though. Cheryl was already gone, no
doubt getting the official tour from Marcus before her first
watch.
Cassidy met up with Jim on the way to
the temple, and they were shortly at their station, on guard. She
could see Marcus and Cheryl posted at the north door,
talking.
She remembered she had some Jim-teasing
to do. “So……. Jim. Jimmy. Jimmerino.”
“
Whaaat?”
“
So I looked up ‘hot
karl’.”
“
Thankyou. Now you know why
you can’t call Karl that?”
“
Oh. Oh yes. Indeed. That’s
disgusting.”
“
No kidding.”
“
I’m curious about one thing
though, Jimmerino.”
Jim sighed. “Alrighty, what is
it?”
“
Why do you want to give a
hot karl to hot Karl? That’s sick. I just don’t get men. No fucking
wonder why I’m a lesbian.”
Jim erupted “I don’t want to give Karl
a hot karl!!“ Jim lowered his head and sighed an exasperated sigh.
“You done yet?”
“
Yeah. That should do
it.”
Laughter was heard from a nearby
post.
“
Great. Spiffy.” Jim
grumbled.
“
Really though, any progress
on the Karl front?”
“
Hrm. Well, not really. At
this point it just comes down to me getting the confidence to
approach him.”
“
Oh, so you found out he’s
gay?”
“
Nope. Not yet.” Jim’s voice
was thick with anxiety.
Cassidy rolled her eyes “Geezes Jim,
are you new at this?”
“
What?”
“
You can’t go in blind like
that! You risk weirding him right out if he’s straight. Bad enough
he could just not want to go out with you even if he is
gay,”
“
Well yeah, but what am I
supposed to do?”
“
Look, you need an
informant.” Cassidy’s eyes looked back and forth as if a spy could
be lingering around. “I’ll talk to him. Vee haff vays of makink
heem talk.”
Jim slowly shook his head. “Oh damn.
When did I end up back in highschool?”
“
I got yer back. Relax,
guy!”
“
Uh huh.”
“
Relax! It’s all
good.”
After shift, when Cassidy got back to
the base, anticipation for the Grand Elder’s arrival had put a
palatable buzz in the air.
Marcus popped into the ladies barrack
with a little extra pep. “Cip, Leftenent Cassidy, Cheryl, meet n
greet at the pad in thirty. Look sharp!”
“
Yup.”
“
Yessir!”
“
Alright,
Marcus.”
And as suddenly as he appeared, Marcus
was gone. Cheryl turned to Cassidy. “People call you Leftenent
Cassidy?”
“
Eh, that’s just Marcus
sometimes. We have kind of a running thing about military protocol
I think. I’m surprised he doesn’t call you Sergeant
Cheryl.”
Much like Colonel Calvert’s visit
before, Marcus, Cipriana and Cassidy stood at the pad, lined up and
waiting. This time however they had the addition of Cheryl, and
this time it was an airlimb that approached, not a helicopter. It
was a sign that the Grand Elder’s importance overshadowed the
Colonel’s.
The airlimb set down on the helipad.
The letters “G.E.G.” were stenciled on the side. “Grand Elder
Guard”.Given his stature, the vehicle made sense enough, but the
sight that came when the hatch opened was none the less surprising
to Cassidy.
“
Storms?” A well armed four
member Storm Front flowed out, securing the immediate area in a
regulation manner. Their tight, efficient motions were as fluid as
they were precise. These soldiers were silent, stoic, and didn’t
make eye contact with anyone; seeing only the tactical elements of
their environment.
A female middle-aged Aguei Colonel came
out next, surveying her subordinate Storms and the general area
casually. She shortly saluted towards Calvert and Marcus, then
stepped aside.