Well, regarding how GXP is going to intersect with Garrick's time there... probably not at all. Garrick, in fact, will probably know of Seina, maybe even befriend the kid, but do nothing to change his fate. But Garrick will be long gone by the time Amane shows up.
Although it would be kinda funny if Kiriko had a crush on Garrick, only to come to find that Seina later steals her heart. A fun echo of Ayeka's situation between Yosho and Tenchi.
Here, have some more!
It wasn't over.
Not really.
Yakage was no
longer making any fuss about fighting Tenchi or myself. But things
were still far from settled. That much was clear as Yakage sat at
the table with us, nursing a tall glass of green tea. The tension
was as thick as you'd think it would be.
I was just glad
that Minagi wasn't present for this. Instead, Yakagi had called over
her ship, the Hinase, and she
was spending some time getting reacquainted with its computers.
I thought it was interesting that Minagi had a genuine Jyuraian tree
ship... without a tree to occupy it. And I had a seedling without a
ship.
I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I felt like fate was whacking
me over the head with a clue hammer.
“So,” Yakage
said at last. “You know for a fact that my best blade cannot
defeat the Light Hawk Sword, and that I would die in the encounter.
Washu vouches for you. As does... Minagi.” Yakage shook his head,
still not quite coming to terms with how Minagi turned against him.
“This is quite a quandary I find myself in.”
I scoffed. “Try
being me. Not that I'm not grateful for the life I have here, but
winding up in this place wasn't something I was planning on myself.”
Yakage glared at me. “What makes you
think I would want to stay here?”
I shrugged.
“Nothing. Except for the fact that you're dying. I know it. You
know it. So does everyone else here. And you gain nothing by
bringing on your death earlier than it ought to be.”
“Garrick has a
point,” said Washu quietly. “I took a moment to look at your
genetic make-up. You don't have a lot of time left, but it's enough
to do something better than to get yourself killed.”
“And what would
you have me do?” Yakage seethed. “Sit out on a sun deck and
spend my final days languishing?”
“How about you
take on a student?” said Washu matter of factly. “Hell, take
Garrick. He's a quick study. He's good with numbers and concepts
and he can pick up all the academics in six months. I guarantee it.”
I gaped at Washu.
“What?”
“Six months?”
Yakage said flatly. “This isn't some joke of yours, is it Washu?”
Washu grinned a
feral smile. “I wouldn't joke about this. Garrick has two
mental disorders that, separately, can be quite debilitating.
However, with a dedicated teacher they can work in conjunction to
drive him to learn at a phenomenal pace. First of all, he'll
dedicate himself to learning a new concept until he has it down pat.
But you can't let him linger on it too long or else he'll get bored,
so you have to keep feeding him new material. He's so easily
distracted by something new that if you play him right you can keep
him going until he drops dead from exhaustion.”
“Washu-chan, what
are you doing?” I asked, slightly horrified.
“Killing two
birds with one stone. Pipe down, dangit!”
Yakage glared at
me, then Washu, and then cleared his throat before going on, “I
will admit that your student is... different. But I still don't see
why I should teach him. What purpose would it serve?”
Washu kept
grinning. “Well, I suppose you haven't heard the news yet. The
Royal Household is keeping it
under wraps, after all.”
“You don't mean to say he is a bastard child!?” cried out Yakage in shock.
I snorted. “Were it so simple.”
“HAH!” Washu crowed gleefully. “It's better than that!
Queen Funaho is going to adopt him!”
“But why him of all people!?” said Yakage incredulously.
In response, Sasami came over, settled herself into my lap
just-as-you-please, and then wrapped her arms around my torso as she
gave me a huge hug. Of course, I gave her a bear-hug right back,
causing the tiny little princess to make a pleased grunt. Yakage
could only look on in shock at the amount of familiarity I was
displaying with the Second Crown Princess of Jyurai.
Sasami then looked to Yakage and spoke softly. “When Gar-nii-san
came here he lost his entire family. He was hurting so badly I
thought he would die of heartache. So we decided to become Gar-kun's family. Besides, Nii-san is fun. He
teaches me all kinds of things like how to fire a pistol.”
“WHAT!?” screeched Ayeka causing me to wince. Oh man, here it
comes. “GARRICK GRIMM, EXPLAIN YOUSELF NOW.”
“She was curious about the tactical course Mihoshi and I put
together. I know for a fact that once a child becomes curious about
fire arms the best course of action is to satisfy their curiosity to
prevent future mishaps. I've been teaching her using a .22 caliber
target pistol. By comparison, it's like a needler laser, so it's
pretty easy for her to handle.”
“And you felt it was fine to leave me out of the loop!?” Ayeka
growled.
“That was Sasami's request. She was worried about you having
exactly this kind of reaction. Relax. Washu has been supervising.”
Ayeka glowered at me disdainfully, but subsided somewhat as she said,
“Very well then. However, I myself wish to ascertain the content
of your lessons with Sasami. Therefore, you will teach me everything
you have taught our sister thus far.”
“By your command, my beloved sister.”
If Yakage had been shocked before, now he was completely floored.
With Yakage lost in
thought and the ad-hoc meeting breaking up, I went outside and met up
with Minagi.
“Garrick!” she
called out as she flew up to me and wrapped me up in a hug.
“Whoah! Are you
alright there?” I asked.
Minagi was quiet
for a moment. “I think I will be,” she said softly.
I looked into
Minagi's eyes and offered her a small smile. “Sounds like you have
something heavy on your mind. I know just the place for that
situation. C'mon, follow me.”
She gave me a
confused look, but followed me regardless as I jogged down the
waterfront path and made my way to Yosho's tree, Funaho.
“A Royal Tree!”
cried out Minagi. “Here!?”
I nodded. “It's
Prince Yosho's tree.” I then walked up to the trunk and placed may
hand against it. “Hello Funaho. I brought a friend with me. Mind
if we come up?”
The lights beamed
down from the leaves and I heard the tree's voice. “Yosho's
little brother is always welcome in my boughs. As is his precious
friend.”
I smiled as I looked back over at Minagi's astonished face. “C'mon,”
I said at barely more than a whisper, and then I grabbed the lowest
branch and swung myself up into the canopy.
As I settled into my favorite spot – a broad branch that gave me a
view of the stars framed by the canopy leaves – Minagi appeared
above me, giving me confused look.
“This... isn't disrespectful?” she said nervously.
I
smiled up at her. “Minagi, we humans are descended of an arboreal
species. Our love for lofty yet sheltered spaces comes from this
background. This is our ancestral home. The trees know this and
welcome us like mothers welcoming their children home. So find a
spot. Make yourself comfortable. Funaho here won't mind one bit.”
Minagi glanced around for a second, then shrugged and promptly
layered herself on me. I gave her a look of mild surprise, to which
she replied,
“Well, you did say to make myself comfortable.”
I chuckled. “You are adorable,” I said and then kissed her on
top her head. Minagi just sighed contently and for a long time we
just laid there like that.
In fact, we were laying there long enough that I was starting to get
that sleepy feeling... and then Minagi suddenly spoke.
“Hinase won't restore my memories,” she said. “It refuses to
do so.”
I sighed. “I didn't think it would. Hinase is worried for you.
To be honest, I can't blame it. I didn't have the happiest childhood
myself.”
“But... why? I mean... you seem okay.”
“Yeah, but I wasn't the nicest kid, either. Sure, I was an
adorable little flirt that stole hearts left and right. Kinda wish
my mother was still around to tell you, but the pictures I have will
have to do. However, I was also an evil, self-righteous, and
conceited little brat that didn't play well with others. I got
better, though. But the point is, I understand why Hinase thinks its
better this way.”
“But... you don't think so?” asked Minagi.
“Well... You can go about this one of two ways. One is that you
can go ahead and make peace with the fact your past is a mystery to
you and let it go. The other is that you confront your father and
fight him to recover your memories.”
“But he'll die if I do that!” Minagi cried out suddenly as she
levered herself up to give me a horrified look.
I simply shook my head and gave her a helpless look in return. “He
won't care. Because believe it or not, he wants you to be happy,
even at his own expense. Such is the calling all fathers that love
their children feel. I will surely be the same way with my own
children when I finally have them.”
Minagi's expression then became pained. “But he wanted me to kill
people... people that haven't even done anything wrong. How can a
man like that love me?”
I sighed. “I'm not sure what the deal with that was... All I know
for certain is two things – that he loves you very much more than
he allows himself to show, and that he wants you to possess the
strongest sword in the universe. From that, I can suppose that he
wants you to be able to take care of yourself no matter what might
come your way. And in order to do that, you would have had to been
willing to kill anyone that would threaten you.”
“But what he wanted me to do was still going too far!”
“Oh, I agree. Remember earlier? I pointed out to him that he
might have lost sight of the fact that you don't need to go to
extremes so often.”
Minagi gave me a dirty look. “And that gun of yours wasn't?”
I smiled at that. “That, milady, was a mechanical engineer
bringing hard physics to the table in the most efficient manner
possible. Those drones of his are no joke, so I simply decided not
to mess around. Like Washu-chan said, I prefer to be direct and not
beat around the bush.”
Minagi sighed as she settled herself back down on my chest. “Okay,
I can see your point. And I admit, it was pretty impressive, too. I
never knew Earth had such potent weapons despite the primitive
technology.”
“Conservative, my dear. Earth firearms are an exercise of
conservative technology.”
“I don't care. Just promise me that you will take care of
yourself, Garrick. I'd feel horrible if anything happened to you.”
“I promise,” I said as I stroked her head gently and gave her
another kiss. “In fact, I'll speak with Washu-chan on the matter
tomorrow. I actually have a few ideas. You might even like them.”
Minagi
made a contented sounding noise and snuggled up against me. We were
like that long enough for me to start dozing again when Minagi
suddenly asked,
“May I sleep with you again tonight?”
I chuckled softly. “People will definitely think that we're doing
something,” I warned her gently.
“What makes you think I want to disabuse them of the notion?” she
asked. Suddenly her lips were on mine and I kissed back.
After a moment, she pulled back slowly and I smiled at her. “Not
that I mind, Minagi, but isn't this a little fast for you?”
Minagi smiled back and shook her head. “I don't know why I feel
this way, Garrick, but I do. And somehow... I feel that, despite me
losing my memories, this sensation is new to me... and it's
wonderful... and I am happy that you're giving it to me.”
“Alright then, but let's just be clear about something.”
“What?”
“I'm fine with this relationship becoming physically intimate...
but if the time comes that we need to go our separate ways, then
let's just accept it as a cruddy turn of fate and let it go at that.”
“So we just live for the moment then?” she asked, giving me the
bedroom eyes. “I think I can live with that.” And with that she
put her lips to mine once more.
The opening bars of Sakura Saku began to blast cheerfully from my
alarm clock. With the unerring accuracy of a man who will not permit
his sleep to be interrupted any further, my hand found the alarm
switch (not the snooze button) and turned off the alarm.
Muscle memory is an amazing thing.
“Errrmph,” said a voice succinctly in my ear. “shoulda done
that 'rlier.”
“sorry,” I replied back softly. “kinda distracted me last
night.”
A soft bark of a laugh. “who distracted who!? you never really
explained where you learned that trick with your fingers.”
I cracked my eyes open and found Minagi giving me a small, sensuous
smile. Ah, the afterglow! How I have missed this.
When you get two people in the sack that are very athletic like
Minagi and I, and one of them really knows what they're
doing... well, let's just say that was an experience like none other.
I was intent on staying in bed for a while longer and it was obvious
Minagi felt the same.
“When I was much younger, I had a chance encounter with a book,”
I explained. “It looked pretty plain at first. But once you start
reading it, you realize it's anything but plain. The book was about
the findings from a questionnaire from about a thousand woman
inquiring about all the details of their sex lives. I learned more
about female sexuality from that one book than all the other guides
I've ever read.”
“Just books?” Minagi asked playfully. “What you did last night
was more than that.”
I smiled back at her. “That and a little bit of practical
experience.”
“Just a little?” she continued to tease.
“I'm just that good with my fingers.”
“Among other things.”
“I'll have you know that the equipment downstairs is perfectly
average. I know because I've seen some guys that are absolute
monsters in that department.”
Recruit Training – mentally scarring young men everywhere since the
dawn of time.
“You know better than that, silly,” Minagi replied as she inched
closer to me, every line on her face screaming indulgent sensuality.
“It's not the size of the tool. It's the skill of the user.”
We closed our eyes as our lips met. The kiss wasn't long lived,
though, as there came the sound of someone knocking on my door. Very
firmly at that, too. Minagi broke off the kiss suddenly as the
peephole holo-screen appeared over our heads.
It was Yakage and he didn't look very pleased.
“He can't see us, can he!?” Minagi squeaked out as she gathered
the comforter around us.
“No, he can't. It's one-way only. But I don't appreciate the
attitude regardless,” I grumbled as I slung myself out my bed and
down the ladder.
“What are you doing!?” Minagi cried out as she saw me whip open
the curtain and head straight for my door, not even stopping to put
anything on.
“Giving him another piece of my mind, since it seems the first one
didn't take.”
I whipped the door open right as Yakage was about to pound on it
again. He reared back then at the sight of me, not a single thread
of cloth to cover my body.
“Problem?” I asked him archly.
“What is the meaning of- GHHKKHHH!” he said as his eyes suddenly snapped to
the direction of my sleeping area. I looked back over as well and
saw Minagi trying to hide in my comforter. I stifled a laugh as I
looked back at Yakage who looked like he was about to go
thermonuclear.
Honestly, I didn't care what he thought. If he tried anything he was
going to find out first hand just how tough my door really is, and
then he'll find out about how I would like to handle people that try
to get in without my approval.
After a few long seconds of seething incoherently, Yakage finally
seemed to get control of himself and took several long breaths.
“You,” he finally ground out between clenched teeth. “And me.
Out front. In thirty minutes.”
The bit with the pistol lessons will be in a side stories tale. It was something I had just come up with as a way of showing just how thoroughly Garrick was integrated into the family. Beyond that I don't think it would have much bearing on the plot except as a potential Chekhov's Gun.
Although it would be kinda funny if Kiriko had a crush on Garrick, only to come to find that Seina later steals her heart. A fun echo of Ayeka's situation between Yosho and Tenchi.
Quote:ClassicDrogn wrote:There is that, but there's also temporal momentum. So, the more things change the more they will stay the same. Kinda like Ryoko and Ayeka. Soon we'll see that while they do get a long much better, they'll still have some very colorful disputes. ^_^
An interesting segment - the repetition of "Forewarned is forearmed"
felt a bit odd at first, but then I realized Garrik was using it to
psyche himself up for the action. Considering his situation, it's a
fairly good byword, though as usual, the more he influences the less
things will look like the story he knew.
Here, have some more!
It wasn't over.
Not really.
Yakage was no
longer making any fuss about fighting Tenchi or myself. But things
were still far from settled. That much was clear as Yakage sat at
the table with us, nursing a tall glass of green tea. The tension
was as thick as you'd think it would be.
I was just glad
that Minagi wasn't present for this. Instead, Yakagi had called over
her ship, the Hinase, and she
was spending some time getting reacquainted with its computers.
I thought it was interesting that Minagi had a genuine Jyuraian tree
ship... without a tree to occupy it. And I had a seedling without a
ship.
I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I felt like fate was whacking
me over the head with a clue hammer.
“So,” Yakage
said at last. “You know for a fact that my best blade cannot
defeat the Light Hawk Sword, and that I would die in the encounter.
Washu vouches for you. As does... Minagi.” Yakage shook his head,
still not quite coming to terms with how Minagi turned against him.
“This is quite a quandary I find myself in.”
I scoffed. “Try
being me. Not that I'm not grateful for the life I have here, but
winding up in this place wasn't something I was planning on myself.”
Yakage glared at me. “What makes you
think I would want to stay here?”
I shrugged.
“Nothing. Except for the fact that you're dying. I know it. You
know it. So does everyone else here. And you gain nothing by
bringing on your death earlier than it ought to be.”
“Garrick has a
point,” said Washu quietly. “I took a moment to look at your
genetic make-up. You don't have a lot of time left, but it's enough
to do something better than to get yourself killed.”
“And what would
you have me do?” Yakage seethed. “Sit out on a sun deck and
spend my final days languishing?”
“How about you
take on a student?” said Washu matter of factly. “Hell, take
Garrick. He's a quick study. He's good with numbers and concepts
and he can pick up all the academics in six months. I guarantee it.”
I gaped at Washu.
“What?”
“Six months?”
Yakage said flatly. “This isn't some joke of yours, is it Washu?”
Washu grinned a
feral smile. “I wouldn't joke about this. Garrick has two
mental disorders that, separately, can be quite debilitating.
However, with a dedicated teacher they can work in conjunction to
drive him to learn at a phenomenal pace. First of all, he'll
dedicate himself to learning a new concept until he has it down pat.
But you can't let him linger on it too long or else he'll get bored,
so you have to keep feeding him new material. He's so easily
distracted by something new that if you play him right you can keep
him going until he drops dead from exhaustion.”
“Washu-chan, what
are you doing?” I asked, slightly horrified.
“Killing two
birds with one stone. Pipe down, dangit!”
Yakage glared at
me, then Washu, and then cleared his throat before going on, “I
will admit that your student is... different. But I still don't see
why I should teach him. What purpose would it serve?”
Washu kept
grinning. “Well, I suppose you haven't heard the news yet. The
Royal Household is keeping it
under wraps, after all.”
“You don't mean to say he is a bastard child!?” cried out Yakage in shock.
I snorted. “Were it so simple.”
“HAH!” Washu crowed gleefully. “It's better than that!
Queen Funaho is going to adopt him!”
“But why him of all people!?” said Yakage incredulously.
In response, Sasami came over, settled herself into my lap
just-as-you-please, and then wrapped her arms around my torso as she
gave me a huge hug. Of course, I gave her a bear-hug right back,
causing the tiny little princess to make a pleased grunt. Yakage
could only look on in shock at the amount of familiarity I was
displaying with the Second Crown Princess of Jyurai.
Sasami then looked to Yakage and spoke softly. “When Gar-nii-san
came here he lost his entire family. He was hurting so badly I
thought he would die of heartache. So we decided to become Gar-kun's family. Besides, Nii-san is fun. He
teaches me all kinds of things like how to fire a pistol.”
“WHAT!?” screeched Ayeka causing me to wince. Oh man, here it
comes. “GARRICK GRIMM, EXPLAIN YOUSELF NOW.”
“She was curious about the tactical course Mihoshi and I put
together. I know for a fact that once a child becomes curious about
fire arms the best course of action is to satisfy their curiosity to
prevent future mishaps. I've been teaching her using a .22 caliber
target pistol. By comparison, it's like a needler laser, so it's
pretty easy for her to handle.”
“And you felt it was fine to leave me out of the loop!?” Ayeka
growled.
“That was Sasami's request. She was worried about you having
exactly this kind of reaction. Relax. Washu has been supervising.”
Ayeka glowered at me disdainfully, but subsided somewhat as she said,
“Very well then. However, I myself wish to ascertain the content
of your lessons with Sasami. Therefore, you will teach me everything
you have taught our sister thus far.”
“By your command, my beloved sister.”
If Yakage had been shocked before, now he was completely floored.
With Yakage lost in
thought and the ad-hoc meeting breaking up, I went outside and met up
with Minagi.
“Garrick!” she
called out as she flew up to me and wrapped me up in a hug.
“Whoah! Are you
alright there?” I asked.
Minagi was quiet
for a moment. “I think I will be,” she said softly.
I looked into
Minagi's eyes and offered her a small smile. “Sounds like you have
something heavy on your mind. I know just the place for that
situation. C'mon, follow me.”
She gave me a
confused look, but followed me regardless as I jogged down the
waterfront path and made my way to Yosho's tree, Funaho.
“A Royal Tree!”
cried out Minagi. “Here!?”
I nodded. “It's
Prince Yosho's tree.” I then walked up to the trunk and placed may
hand against it. “Hello Funaho. I brought a friend with me. Mind
if we come up?”
The lights beamed
down from the leaves and I heard the tree's voice. “Yosho's
little brother is always welcome in my boughs. As is his precious
friend.”
I smiled as I looked back over at Minagi's astonished face. “C'mon,”
I said at barely more than a whisper, and then I grabbed the lowest
branch and swung myself up into the canopy.
As I settled into my favorite spot – a broad branch that gave me a
view of the stars framed by the canopy leaves – Minagi appeared
above me, giving me confused look.
“This... isn't disrespectful?” she said nervously.
I
smiled up at her. “Minagi, we humans are descended of an arboreal
species. Our love for lofty yet sheltered spaces comes from this
background. This is our ancestral home. The trees know this and
welcome us like mothers welcoming their children home. So find a
spot. Make yourself comfortable. Funaho here won't mind one bit.”
Minagi glanced around for a second, then shrugged and promptly
layered herself on me. I gave her a look of mild surprise, to which
she replied,
“Well, you did say to make myself comfortable.”
I chuckled. “You are adorable,” I said and then kissed her on
top her head. Minagi just sighed contently and for a long time we
just laid there like that.
In fact, we were laying there long enough that I was starting to get
that sleepy feeling... and then Minagi suddenly spoke.
“Hinase won't restore my memories,” she said. “It refuses to
do so.”
I sighed. “I didn't think it would. Hinase is worried for you.
To be honest, I can't blame it. I didn't have the happiest childhood
myself.”
“But... why? I mean... you seem okay.”
“Yeah, but I wasn't the nicest kid, either. Sure, I was an
adorable little flirt that stole hearts left and right. Kinda wish
my mother was still around to tell you, but the pictures I have will
have to do. However, I was also an evil, self-righteous, and
conceited little brat that didn't play well with others. I got
better, though. But the point is, I understand why Hinase thinks its
better this way.”
“But... you don't think so?” asked Minagi.
“Well... You can go about this one of two ways. One is that you
can go ahead and make peace with the fact your past is a mystery to
you and let it go. The other is that you confront your father and
fight him to recover your memories.”
“But he'll die if I do that!” Minagi cried out suddenly as she
levered herself up to give me a horrified look.
I simply shook my head and gave her a helpless look in return. “He
won't care. Because believe it or not, he wants you to be happy,
even at his own expense. Such is the calling all fathers that love
their children feel. I will surely be the same way with my own
children when I finally have them.”
Minagi's expression then became pained. “But he wanted me to kill
people... people that haven't even done anything wrong. How can a
man like that love me?”
I sighed. “I'm not sure what the deal with that was... All I know
for certain is two things – that he loves you very much more than
he allows himself to show, and that he wants you to possess the
strongest sword in the universe. From that, I can suppose that he
wants you to be able to take care of yourself no matter what might
come your way. And in order to do that, you would have had to been
willing to kill anyone that would threaten you.”
“But what he wanted me to do was still going too far!”
“Oh, I agree. Remember earlier? I pointed out to him that he
might have lost sight of the fact that you don't need to go to
extremes so often.”
Minagi gave me a dirty look. “And that gun of yours wasn't?”
I smiled at that. “That, milady, was a mechanical engineer
bringing hard physics to the table in the most efficient manner
possible. Those drones of his are no joke, so I simply decided not
to mess around. Like Washu-chan said, I prefer to be direct and not
beat around the bush.”
Minagi sighed as she settled herself back down on my chest. “Okay,
I can see your point. And I admit, it was pretty impressive, too. I
never knew Earth had such potent weapons despite the primitive
technology.”
“Conservative, my dear. Earth firearms are an exercise of
conservative technology.”
“I don't care. Just promise me that you will take care of
yourself, Garrick. I'd feel horrible if anything happened to you.”
“I promise,” I said as I stroked her head gently and gave her
another kiss. “In fact, I'll speak with Washu-chan on the matter
tomorrow. I actually have a few ideas. You might even like them.”
Minagi
made a contented sounding noise and snuggled up against me. We were
like that long enough for me to start dozing again when Minagi
suddenly asked,
“May I sleep with you again tonight?”
I chuckled softly. “People will definitely think that we're doing
something,” I warned her gently.
“What makes you think I want to disabuse them of the notion?” she
asked. Suddenly her lips were on mine and I kissed back.
After a moment, she pulled back slowly and I smiled at her. “Not
that I mind, Minagi, but isn't this a little fast for you?”
Minagi smiled back and shook her head. “I don't know why I feel
this way, Garrick, but I do. And somehow... I feel that, despite me
losing my memories, this sensation is new to me... and it's
wonderful... and I am happy that you're giving it to me.”
“Alright then, but let's just be clear about something.”
“What?”
“I'm fine with this relationship becoming physically intimate...
but if the time comes that we need to go our separate ways, then
let's just accept it as a cruddy turn of fate and let it go at that.”
“So we just live for the moment then?” she asked, giving me the
bedroom eyes. “I think I can live with that.” And with that she
put her lips to mine once more.
The opening bars of Sakura Saku began to blast cheerfully from my
alarm clock. With the unerring accuracy of a man who will not permit
his sleep to be interrupted any further, my hand found the alarm
switch (not the snooze button) and turned off the alarm.
Muscle memory is an amazing thing.
“Errrmph,” said a voice succinctly in my ear. “shoulda done
that 'rlier.”
“sorry,” I replied back softly. “kinda distracted me last
night.”
A soft bark of a laugh. “who distracted who!? you never really
explained where you learned that trick with your fingers.”
I cracked my eyes open and found Minagi giving me a small, sensuous
smile. Ah, the afterglow! How I have missed this.
When you get two people in the sack that are very athletic like
Minagi and I, and one of them really knows what they're
doing... well, let's just say that was an experience like none other.
I was intent on staying in bed for a while longer and it was obvious
Minagi felt the same.
“When I was much younger, I had a chance encounter with a book,”
I explained. “It looked pretty plain at first. But once you start
reading it, you realize it's anything but plain. The book was about
the findings from a questionnaire from about a thousand woman
inquiring about all the details of their sex lives. I learned more
about female sexuality from that one book than all the other guides
I've ever read.”
“Just books?” Minagi asked playfully. “What you did last night
was more than that.”
I smiled back at her. “That and a little bit of practical
experience.”
“Just a little?” she continued to tease.
“I'm just that good with my fingers.”
“Among other things.”
“I'll have you know that the equipment downstairs is perfectly
average. I know because I've seen some guys that are absolute
monsters in that department.”
Recruit Training – mentally scarring young men everywhere since the
dawn of time.
“You know better than that, silly,” Minagi replied as she inched
closer to me, every line on her face screaming indulgent sensuality.
“It's not the size of the tool. It's the skill of the user.”
We closed our eyes as our lips met. The kiss wasn't long lived,
though, as there came the sound of someone knocking on my door. Very
firmly at that, too. Minagi broke off the kiss suddenly as the
peephole holo-screen appeared over our heads.
It was Yakage and he didn't look very pleased.
“He can't see us, can he!?” Minagi squeaked out as she gathered
the comforter around us.
“No, he can't. It's one-way only. But I don't appreciate the
attitude regardless,” I grumbled as I slung myself out my bed and
down the ladder.
“What are you doing!?” Minagi cried out as she saw me whip open
the curtain and head straight for my door, not even stopping to put
anything on.
“Giving him another piece of my mind, since it seems the first one
didn't take.”
I whipped the door open right as Yakage was about to pound on it
again. He reared back then at the sight of me, not a single thread
of cloth to cover my body.
“Problem?” I asked him archly.
“What is the meaning of- GHHKKHHH!” he said as his eyes suddenly snapped to
the direction of my sleeping area. I looked back over as well and
saw Minagi trying to hide in my comforter. I stifled a laugh as I
looked back at Yakage who looked like he was about to go
thermonuclear.
Honestly, I didn't care what he thought. If he tried anything he was
going to find out first hand just how tough my door really is, and
then he'll find out about how I would like to handle people that try
to get in without my approval.
After a few long seconds of seething incoherently, Yakage finally
seemed to get control of himself and took several long breaths.
“You,” he finally ground out between clenched teeth. “And me.
Out front. In thirty minutes.”
The bit with the pistol lessons will be in a side stories tale. It was something I had just come up with as a way of showing just how thoroughly Garrick was integrated into the family. Beyond that I don't think it would have much bearing on the plot except as a potential Chekhov's Gun.