The Red Bedspread: Part 26
Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.
Written for: the 40 word prompt table on magic4mula
Title: The Red Bedspread ~ Part 26
Pairing: Glitch/Raw
Rating: R
Prompt Table: Here.
“Lightweight,” Azkadellia teased, as she ducked over her horse’s neck to avoid a low branch tangled with sortha blooms.
Serena flicked at a bluebottle. “Oh, please. I only stopped because you were holding me back.”
“As if! You were holding ME back.”
Serena’s shoulders sagged. “You’re right. I’m pathetic.”
Az slowed her horse until they drew level. “So you’re not a monster like Raynz. So you showed him some mercy and didn’t turn his mind inside out. That’s not a bad thing, Serena. And we still got some valuable information…the location and password of a secret store of files could prove more useful in the long run than if you’d just wrung a few things out of him directly. Which you admitted you might not have been able to interpret or remember for very long anyway.”
“But we’ll lose so much time if we go back!” Serena fretted. “It’s so frustrating! To think all the answers we needed were right in the Black Tower and we drove right past it on our way to the train station!”
“Don’t concern yourself. Mother will be able to find and interpret them and send us what we need. She’s not just a pretty face, you know, she would have made an excellent scientist herself if she hadn’t had to leave her studies to take the throne.”
Serena nodded. “We’ll be meeting up with Ambrose in Miat. If he’s sufficiently recovered, and not still hiding from himself, he should be able to do something with those notes to help us.”
“Hiding from himself?” Az echoed curiously.
Serena was quiet for a moment before she spoke. “Glitch and Ambrose are one person, you know,” she offered at last. “Different skills, different temperaments, different approaches to life, different memories, but one person. He was afraid if he stopped being ‘Glitch’ he’d lose himself. Consequently he was dragging his feet about taking up his old identity, as well as his former habits, former skills, former knowledge. I hope Raw’s made some progress with helping him come to terms with who he is by now.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone this?”
“I tried very hard to help him, you know,” Serena bristled. “He may have been resistant to my advice, but that hardly gave me leave to tell his personal mental business to all and sundry.”
Az snorted. “You didn’t mind telling the whole household he’d unioned with Raw.”
Serena started to say something angry, then realized she was being teased. She shook her head and nudged her horse to a faster pace. “Come on, we’ve got messages to send. Your mother needs to find those files, Glitch and Raw need to wait for us in Miat, and Kalm’s family needs to keep him out of the sunslight until we get there."
*
Dinner had been eaten in silence. Once again Raw had insisted they stop for the night, which had made Glitch glad, as he was tired, but he was also worried about the delay.
“Nearly to Miat,” Raw had assured him. “We’ll leave early in the morning, reach Miat in time for businesses to open.”
Glitch had wanted to ask what businesses he was exactly in the market for, but Raw had that vague mysterious air about him that always made Glitch feel that it was not a moment to pry.
Their time in the little boat was nearly done, though, he did know that much, and while Glitch was nearly to the point where he was tired of close quarters, constant motion, and wet feet, he was going to be sad when they had to abandon the craft for other transport.
“Are we taking horses?” Glitch asked suddenly, as they cleared away after dinner.
Raw was not fazed by his abrupt question. “Feel strong enough?” he asked.
“I’ll make it,” Glitch said firmly. He tucked a dried plate into a knapsack. Then he asked, as casually as possible, “Is it far?”
“Not close. But you’re much stronger than you were.”
Glitch smiled. He was, truth be told, rather proud of himself for having left the palace and its creature comforts to come support Raw on his journey. Even if he wasn’t going to be much practical use (and indeed had probably slowed the trip a bit) he was glad he’d come along. He was even willing to credit Not-So-Serene-a with having been right about him needing to get on with his life and stop clinging to his bed and his worries and his…
…his old name.
They’d had an argument about that one, he vividly recalled. The first day after his surgery in fact, and he’d lobbed a melon ball off his breakfast tray in her general direction and told her he wanted another nurse. Only to be reminded she was the only Viewer left for a hundred spans. DG and Wyatt had smoothed things over, insisting he could call himself Glitch as long he wanted. That he could be Glitch as long as he wanted.
He laid a tentative hand on Raw’s arm. Raw stopped packaging up cutlery and looked over at once.
“Terau,” he ventured, very softly. “That offer you made earlier, to help me sort a few things out. I think… I think I’m ready.”
His mate nodded. “We’ll sort it out, Ambrose,” he replied quietly. “Make self comfortable.”
He laid down, resting his head on Raw’s thigh, glad for the familiar red chenille under them serving tonight as both picnic blanket and bedspread, glad for Agnes roosting in a nearby bush, glad for the cozy green glade and the dimming of the suns in twilight and the soft chuckle of the Slipper and the breeze bumping cattails against each other. He closed his eyes, and when he felt the pads of gentle fingertips rest on the side of his face, he was no more afraid than if it had been nothing more than a lover’s caress, which in a way, was all it really was.
~~~
Continue…
Written for: the 40 word prompt table on magic4mula
Title: The Red Bedspread ~ Part 26
Pairing: Glitch/Raw
Rating: R
Prompt Table: Here.
“Lightweight,” Azkadellia teased, as she ducked over her horse’s neck to avoid a low branch tangled with sortha blooms.
Serena flicked at a bluebottle. “Oh, please. I only stopped because you were holding me back.”
“As if! You were holding ME back.”
Serena’s shoulders sagged. “You’re right. I’m pathetic.”
Az slowed her horse until they drew level. “So you’re not a monster like Raynz. So you showed him some mercy and didn’t turn his mind inside out. That’s not a bad thing, Serena. And we still got some valuable information…the location and password of a secret store of files could prove more useful in the long run than if you’d just wrung a few things out of him directly. Which you admitted you might not have been able to interpret or remember for very long anyway.”
“But we’ll lose so much time if we go back!” Serena fretted. “It’s so frustrating! To think all the answers we needed were right in the Black Tower and we drove right past it on our way to the train station!”
“Don’t concern yourself. Mother will be able to find and interpret them and send us what we need. She’s not just a pretty face, you know, she would have made an excellent scientist herself if she hadn’t had to leave her studies to take the throne.”
Serena nodded. “We’ll be meeting up with Ambrose in Miat. If he’s sufficiently recovered, and not still hiding from himself, he should be able to do something with those notes to help us.”
“Hiding from himself?” Az echoed curiously.
Serena was quiet for a moment before she spoke. “Glitch and Ambrose are one person, you know,” she offered at last. “Different skills, different temperaments, different approaches to life, different memories, but one person. He was afraid if he stopped being ‘Glitch’ he’d lose himself. Consequently he was dragging his feet about taking up his old identity, as well as his former habits, former skills, former knowledge. I hope Raw’s made some progress with helping him come to terms with who he is by now.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone this?”
“I tried very hard to help him, you know,” Serena bristled. “He may have been resistant to my advice, but that hardly gave me leave to tell his personal mental business to all and sundry.”
Az snorted. “You didn’t mind telling the whole household he’d unioned with Raw.”
Serena started to say something angry, then realized she was being teased. She shook her head and nudged her horse to a faster pace. “Come on, we’ve got messages to send. Your mother needs to find those files, Glitch and Raw need to wait for us in Miat, and Kalm’s family needs to keep him out of the sunslight until we get there."
*
Dinner had been eaten in silence. Once again Raw had insisted they stop for the night, which had made Glitch glad, as he was tired, but he was also worried about the delay.
“Nearly to Miat,” Raw had assured him. “We’ll leave early in the morning, reach Miat in time for businesses to open.”
Glitch had wanted to ask what businesses he was exactly in the market for, but Raw had that vague mysterious air about him that always made Glitch feel that it was not a moment to pry.
Their time in the little boat was nearly done, though, he did know that much, and while Glitch was nearly to the point where he was tired of close quarters, constant motion, and wet feet, he was going to be sad when they had to abandon the craft for other transport.
“Are we taking horses?” Glitch asked suddenly, as they cleared away after dinner.
Raw was not fazed by his abrupt question. “Feel strong enough?” he asked.
“I’ll make it,” Glitch said firmly. He tucked a dried plate into a knapsack. Then he asked, as casually as possible, “Is it far?”
“Not close. But you’re much stronger than you were.”
Glitch smiled. He was, truth be told, rather proud of himself for having left the palace and its creature comforts to come support Raw on his journey. Even if he wasn’t going to be much practical use (and indeed had probably slowed the trip a bit) he was glad he’d come along. He was even willing to credit Not-So-Serene-a with having been right about him needing to get on with his life and stop clinging to his bed and his worries and his…
…his old name.
They’d had an argument about that one, he vividly recalled. The first day after his surgery in fact, and he’d lobbed a melon ball off his breakfast tray in her general direction and told her he wanted another nurse. Only to be reminded she was the only Viewer left for a hundred spans. DG and Wyatt had smoothed things over, insisting he could call himself Glitch as long he wanted. That he could be Glitch as long as he wanted.
He laid a tentative hand on Raw’s arm. Raw stopped packaging up cutlery and looked over at once.
“Terau,” he ventured, very softly. “That offer you made earlier, to help me sort a few things out. I think… I think I’m ready.”
His mate nodded. “We’ll sort it out, Ambrose,” he replied quietly. “Make self comfortable.”
He laid down, resting his head on Raw’s thigh, glad for the familiar red chenille under them serving tonight as both picnic blanket and bedspread, glad for Agnes roosting in a nearby bush, glad for the cozy green glade and the dimming of the suns in twilight and the soft chuckle of the Slipper and the breeze bumping cattails against each other. He closed his eyes, and when he felt the pads of gentle fingertips rest on the side of his face, he was no more afraid than if it had been nothing more than a lover’s caress, which in a way, was all it really was.
~~~
Continue…