Mightier Than The Pulse Pistol (G)
Setting, spoilers, warning: Terra Firma filler written in response to a challenge over on the Terra Firma site. This fic is scattered with bookish and other Erp-cultural references. If anyone wants to deconstruct my subtexts (or whatever it is one does in literary criticism), I meant every single thing you think I might have meant. Honestly….. And if you believe that lie then we can both feel smarter. Yay! Everybody wins.
Thanks to JJ for the beta. All mistakes and confusions are my fault.
Not mine and no money is being made. I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you.
Words: 1749
Mightier Than The Pulse Pistol
“Bore-duhs…” Aeryn sounded out the letters of the shop’s name, the animated syllables serving to exaggerate the pout of her lips. Taking one last look at the window display to confirm the nature of the merchandise within she nodded to herself in satisfaction before plunging inside.
Olivia shrugged and trailed along in Aeryn’s wake, as she had done for so much of the expedition. The two women, in turn, were followed by the pair of agents who had stuck with them when Chiana had remained in the clothes store a half hour earlier, thus dividing their group.
Olivia smiled at the sight of Aeryn rooted to the spot a few paces inside the shop, the human inexplicably feeling like the proud mum of a precocious toddler. The alien woman was biting on her bottom lip and slowly scanning the room, nodding happily, eyes twinkling and wild with excitement. Her nose and then her brow wrinkled as she sniffed the air, as if she were trying to assess the unusual odour of the store. If only all the children she taught would be so obviously thrilled to be in a bookstore, Olivia wished.
Olivia glanced around her, contemplating who else had noticed Aeryn’s wide-eyed wonder: The agents remained discretely silent, semi-detached and po-faced, whilst the otherwise-empty shop’s skeleton staff of two seemed to be in shock that one of the aliens had actually come into their store. Both of the shopkeepers gaped in astonishment that they were genuinely in the presence of an extraterrestrial. The details of how that extraterrestrial was acting seemed to be an insignificant detail to them right now.
The mall had been closed to the public for the aliens’ shopping expedition and Olivia was as surprised as the bookstore’s manager to find that Aeryn had chosen books over the more obvious attractions of other nearby shops. But that was the thing Olivia had learnt about aliens: They did weird, alien things. However, in Olivia’s opinion, a good bookstore manager should have expected the unexpected.
“So many. I never imagined there would be so many,” Aeryn observed breathily.
Olivia couldn’t help but laugh. Sometimes the most mundane things seemed to excite their off-world visitors, whilst the most exciting, to human eyes, could totally bore them. Olivia would never have taken Aeryn to be the type to get so red-cheeked about a room full of pulpy paperbacks. But then, suppressing another smirk, she pondered that maybe Aeryn was just living up to the old cliché about women getting more excited than men by the written word?
“Oh, this is nothing,” Olivia observed, feeling the need to half boast, half self-deprecate on behalf of the entire human race. “You should see some of our big libraries.” Aeryn's eyes went wider still. Then another thought came to her just as Aeryn began to head off towards a display of childrens’ books. “Surely you have places like this where you come from?” Olivia called after her.
Aeryn paused, turned slightly, grimaced and shook her head. “No, actually. John’s journal was the first book I ever really had.” As Aeryn spoke a tremble seemed to grow in her voice, threatening to overwhelm her actual words. It was matched by the tremors surfacing on her face and mannerisms which, to Olivia’s eye, seemed to suggest that the Sebacean’s normally solid mantle of self-composure might be about to crack. What lava of emotions might be revealed if she did erupt?
Olivia scrunched her brows in confusion. Why did Aeryn seem so upset? And why would she have had John’s journal? Surely it would have been John’s, as it was his journal? Did she still have it? And why had neither of them mentioned it before? It was already clear to Olivia that there were so many mysteries regarding Aeryn and her brother, and this latest one was one of the oddest. However, neither of them seemed willing to divulge anything more than a handful of hints, all of which were so vague as to raise more questions than they answered. Olivia had already worked out that Aeryn would now most likely clam up in response to any enquiry and would refuse to provide more details.
Olivia had no time to dwell on Aeryn’s emotional fragility or her brother’s love life now, though, as Aeryn had turned her face away and, after a couple of seconds, pulled a large, colourful childs’ book from a display. A typical avoidance strategy, just like John would employ. Well, Aeryn may have learnt that from John, but Olivia had a lifetime of practice at pinning John down. Olivia made her way round the display, to stand opposite and face Aeryn once more whilst Aeryn flicked through the pages.
“Roh… wold… Darla… The BFG!?” Aeryn commented, nodding at the book. “This book is clearly intended for children….. But where is the gun?” Aeryn added, her eyes narrowing as she reached the last page.
“It’s The Big Friendly Giant?” Now it was Olivia’s turn to be confused and to frown. “Why would you think there’d be a gun in it?”
Aeryn snorted then smiled enigmatically, looking to Olivia like some sort of alien Mona Lisa. “Your brother.” She said, snapping the book shut, adding nothing more by way of explanation from where Olivia stood. Another mystery in the great John-And-Aeryn affair, but perhaps this one Olivia might get her brother to shed some light on? Maybe she should ask Aeryn to explain? After all, surely it was nothing to do with their Unspeakable Non-Relationship or any of the other Great Mysteries of John’s life these last three years? She would have to choose a moment when no one could overhear to get the best chance of a meaningful reply.
The agents seemed to be happy to leave them relatively alone right now: One of them already seemed to be browsing the latest trashy spy novels whilst the other had gravitated towards the fashion magazines. As the nearest agent briefly peered at her over the top of his dark glasses Olivia suppressed a snigger. She thought back to how she had nearly exploded with laughter earlier in their shopping spree when Aeryn had confided in her: Olivia’s alien friend had whispered her opinion that the agents were “A couple of Horatio Caine want-to-bees.” Yeah! Score one to the alien chick, Olivia reflected. John’s tendency to make obscure cultural references had clearly rubbed off on the Sebacean. Aeryn had learnt most of what she knew of Earth from watching the TV: Heaven preserve humanity from her dry humour once she was also able to make cultural references to books. As to the BFG remark, and other aspects of her relationship with her brother, well, Olivia had a few talents of her own when it came to getting information out of people. She intended to use those abilities on Aeryn and, in due course, on John.
By this time, however, the bookshop manager had finally summoned the courage to approach. He hovered as close as he dared, which was a good few meters away. The second, younger, female shop assistant seemed to be too star-struck to move. She was staring google-eyed and slack-jawed at Aeryn as though she were a famous model or actress. Olivia reckoned that, once the girl pulled herself together a bit, she might ask for a photograph with Aeryn, maybe along with her autograph.
“Wow, the girls’ll never believe this…” Olivia thought she heard the youngster say to herself, such was the quiet in the empty store.
“Can, erm… Can I help you ma’am?” the manager asked nervously as Aeryn returned The BFG to it’s display. The manager seemed determined to look at the book rather than at Aeryn. Perhaps he was wondering what strange, alien qualities Aeryn had bestowed upon it by her merest touch? Perhaps he was worried it might sprout wings and fly at him?
“Yes,” Aeryn nodded emphatically, her tone of voice alone seeming to command the manager to look at her. Her gaze settled on the pale and frail man, seeming to pin him to the spot before burning a hole clean through him. “I would like some books to help me with my English. And I would also like some books about your history.” Olivia would not have believed it were possible for him to turn even paler, but he did. She was torn between feeling sorry for him and enjoying the show.
“Erm, certainly, ma’am, I’ll just see what we have on English as a foreign language….”
As the clearly petrified manager made his temporary escape, Aeryn leant in close and whispered conspiratorially to Olivia. “And I would like to pick some books which John would like. Could you help me, without letting everyone know they would be from me to him?”
Aeryn pulled back allowing Olivia to see the earnest, slightly lost look on her face. Her eyes were pleading for help, secrecy and understanding. The last time Olivia had seen an expression like that, she had been looking at a love-struck teenager. Aha! Confirmation, as if Olivia needed it, of Aeryn’s feelings for her dumb-ass brother.
Olivia smiled indulgently at Aeryn. Olivia knew that all that many humans saw was Aeryn’s obvious, aloof and intimidating, Alien-Badass-Solider persona. However, at times like this, Olivia counted herself privileged to see another side to Aeryn. She was also grateful for the tiny peak behind the blackout curtain that her brother had drawn across his own feelings and experiences covering the last few years. Aeryn clearly had a serious ‘thing’ for John, and there was definitely something the other way, too, no matter how inconsistently he treated her or how much he pretended he didn’t care.
As Olivia led Aeryn deeper into the shop she was already compiling a little list of books for John. She knew of old that he would want some of the latest physics texts, some stupid collections of what he thought of as humour, and the odd pulpy science fiction novel. But Olivia had other books in mind for him now, ranging from “Wuthering Heights” to ‘Relationships For Dummies’. Of course, she would have to select a few books especially for her new friend, too, bearing in mind Aeryn’s sharp sense of humour and obvious romantic interest in John. Maybe she would start with Jane Austen’s Persuasion? She smirked to herself at the possibilities. The prospect of shopping for books for her brother had never been so much fun.
End