27th January 2012
Ship: Ky/Xander
Title: Magnetic North
MatchedXdehctaM
I am sitting in Patrick's and Aida's garden in Mapletree Borough planting New Roses. They are not like the Wild Roses that can be found rampant in the Outer Provinces. These roses smell sterile, reminding me of how my life has changed since I came to live with my Aunt and Uncle in the Inner Provinces. The reds, blues and browns of the outer provinces still haunt me from time to time when the various shades of green shrubs become too much. Despite the circumstances that brought me here I miss my home. I miss my mother and her paintings; the way the light would flirt around her in the evening. I miss my dad, his determination to make help the villagers.
I sigh, the dirt here is sterile too, none of the bugs and weeds that you could usually find in the wild. I place a new rose into the dirt, covering it when a shadow fell over me. I tense; there was only one person who would come up to our yard. When I look up, Xander is standing above me; he smiles and greets me in the same optimistic way he does everyone else but I hear the suggestive undertone in the request.
"Hey Ky, do you wanna meet me at the usual place."
The sun shines off his hair forcing me to shade my eyes from the glare. I still have half an hour of free rec hours left. I incline my head to let him know that I will meet there. He grins and walks off, leaving me to return to the new roses and their safe, harmless existence.
It doesn't take me long to finish planting the last New Rose bloom in the front of Patrick and Aida's house. They're strong flowers, able to survive in any season with little care but they don't have the same beauty as their wild counterpart. I dust my hands off on my brown plain clothes and make my way into the forest surrounding the Borough. The trees in the forest are many but still not as wild as those in the Outer Provinces. They're carefully chosen and cultivated into strong majestic trees, being pruned every half a decade instead of the weekly pruning the trees in the city receive.
When I reach the lake, Xander is there already. He is holding his tablet container, closing it and opening it so that I can see flashes of green, blue and red; the mark of a citizen. I move to sit next to him, he doesn't look surprised to see me but it's Xander, he always knows where I am or at least knows where to look. He stops playing with his tablet case and looks me in the eye. The usual cheer is no longer there and I wonder what could have happened to make him so sombre.
"Ky," He begins, "have they approached you?" I try to keep myself from tensing and hope he doesn't notice.
It appears to work and I reply, "who? The officials?" He is angry with me for playing stupid but does nothing more than to start playing with his tablet container again.
"Stop Ky, this is serious." He is right it is serious. I wouldn't have thought that rebellion would follow me here of all places. Despite my father's belief in them, I did not believe they could be as widespread as they claimed. "I know they contacted you Ky, if they contacted me then they would contact you."
I don't say anything. Xander's veiled praise put me on edge. I didn't want to be like my father and fight for a non-repentant leader but I really did not want to work and die for the society either.
"I didn't take the offer."
"KY!" He moves forward and is almost on top of me. I start to feel awkward. "Do you even know what this means?" He is whispering now, the undergrowth in this forest rustling a bit in the wind could mask the sounds of people hiding in the bushes.
His accusation makes me angry. What does he know of the rebellion? Just what they told him, to recruit him to their cause. "I know more about the rebellion than you will Xander. I know what they do to the people who have outlived their usefulness."
I slide away from him, the scent of the forest is subdued but I can still smell it everywhere. Xander follows me and I know that even now he's still playing the game, trying to find a way to trap his opponent –me- into his web and command them. He put his hand on mine. I hadn't noticed that I was digging a hole into the dirt with my finger.
"Ky you can't really believe that?"
I fight for my words. Somehow they have gotten tangled up in my throat and cut off both my reply and my oxygen supply. When I have finally found my words the ten minute warning bell sounds. I pull my hand from Xander's and start walking back, Xander following behind me. When we are the edge of the forest he pulls me back and kisses my cheek. He makes his way back to his home and I wonder if Xander will ever stop playing games.
MatchedXdehctaM
Xander is looking at me from across the rec hall. One of the Hundred songs is playing while the others play Prisoner's Dilemma. A crowd of our friends stand around him, watching as his deft hands deal out cards and his telling smile reassures his opponent that he means no hard feelings. He deals his final card and takes out his opponent. He looks up and grins at me but the girls at the table beside mine think it's for them. Maybe it is.
The corners of his eyes wrinkle with a smile and his gaze slides to one of the empty room; there is single party happening there. He knows he doesn't have to tell me. I saw a few of our friends disappear into that room. He heads of in that direction, blue plain clothes doing very little to detract from his swagger the Society had intended them to.
The five minutes I sit through are the longest minutes of my life so far and I all but run to the empty room where the single meeting is talking place.
I am barely through the door when Xander pulls me to him and kisses me. When he lets me go I look around the room, a sea of black, blue and brown plain clothes assaults my vision. The first thing I notice is the coupling. Many of us are paired off with our own gender, something the Society does not approve of. A few of these pairing contain a third member as well, usually someone of the opposite sex.
Xander steers me into a corner, he kisses me again and I feel just a bit light headed. I could never tell where I stand with Xander outside of these meetings; if I mean anything more to him than just another participant in his single game. I hate the uncertain quality my love has taken in the society.
"Ky," he breathes into my ear. "Do I have to do all this myself?"
I kiss him back by way of answer and he chuckles into it. I am almost as tall as Xander but the angle of his incline has me tilting my head to reach his mouth. A hand moves down my brown plain clothes, running over my groin. I wiggle against him and suddenly feel him poking my thigh. I push my thigh deliberately against his phallus.
"Let's find a corner." I tell Xander, his kisses beginning to land on my neck. He nods against me and walks to a far corner void of people.
He flops down and pulls me down into his lap. The action reminds me of my time in the Outer Provinces where I would run around my village with the other kids and tumble into streams.
"You're distracted." His murmur in my ear brings me back to the present.
"I am not" I reply, kissing his neck and running a hand under his plain shirt. Just like everyone else in society he is fit but Xander wears it differently.
"Yes you are, and I wanted to show you something too." He nibbles my ear, pushing my shirt up to the hooks in my arms. "It's something I learnt at the museum." He leans in close and his lips brush my ear, I strain not jerk away. "A way to make love; man to man."
My face goes hot and I can see Xander's cheeks dusting too. "Really?"
He must have seen the Archivists at the Museum then. I know Xander wants to help change Society, make it a place where we can really be free but the Raising wasn't something I can trust so easily and I'm not sure the Archivists could be trusted.
He nods, trying to burrow more into our corner. "It would still hurt but not as bad as last time." I took his word for it, not wanting to remember the last we tried it. Outside the warning the bell rings, alerting us to the end of the singles party. "Later then?"
I smile and kiss him. "Yea."
MatchedXdehctaM
It has been three years since I have spoken to Xander about the rebellion. Not that he hasn't tried, I just refuse to listen. I have no desire to be in the raising and he knows it too but he seems to think he can change my mind. He and the other citizens in our Second School of legal age are getting matched tonight. A part of me is sad that he will be matched tonight while I, an aberration, will still be a single, not fit for procreation.
During the night, Aida comforts me. She says that the Society is foolish for punishing the children with their parents. She says that one day I will even find a girl to like when the Society's rules no longer apply. I smile and thank her for her words. I know that they are dangerous to say because it almost rebellion talk.
I play with the scribe that Patrick got me when I first arrived here, practicing the natural sorting gift I will never be allowed to use. As ten o'clock approaches I begin to pack away my scribe and get ready for bed. Tonight, I would have to wear the dream tags. I know it's impossible for them to see my dreams but being treated as a test subject to use for the promotion of citizens still irritates me.
My sleep is fitful and I dream of Xander and all our classmates getting matched tonight. I see them, a sea of reds, blues, blacks, yellows and purples waiting in the hall for the one they would be matched with. They all line up in front of the screens, happy and smiling when the screens flick on. I watched on, terrified, skeletons filled the screen, each smiling as their matched smile back. I try to scream but my voice fails me. I can't run or even move, only watch on as they reach out and grab my unsuspecting classmates.
When the sun raises the next I am all too happy to go to my placement, last night's dream clinging to my brain. I see Xander heading to his placement on the air train. He doesn't smile but the way his eyes crinkle tells me that's he is more than happy with his match. As I step off the air train, I wish my stomach would stop spinning. My work placement does nothing to stop my mind from racing between Xander's joy of his Match and the dream I had last night. I am not even tired when I leave.
I manage to meet Xander on the ride home, he looks tired and I wonder what the medical department is doing to him. He nods off every few minutes but when he's awake he smiles at me. I start smiling back only to remember his expression that morning. I can see his puzzled expression but I don't bother placating him.
When we get off at borough, he pushes a piece of paper into my hand. I squeeze it and debate with myself about letting it fall prey to the wind but littering was not taken lightly here. I slip it into my pocket and make my way home wondering whether or not it was about his match or his plans to recruit me for The Raising.
I walk down the street of Mapleborough, looking over the various Maple trees that stood near the curbs of the neat houses. They are the only thing not equal about the houses on this street. I step up to my home and quickly pull the note from my pocket when I'm inside. The note has only two words on it but it still makes me sick. It's Cassia.
I don't think I could eat that night but to toss out food would alert the Society to something being wrong, you would be pulled in for checkups and at this time I would like to avoid something like that. Aida stares at me while I pick at my food and Patrick reads through his notes, sparing a glance every few minutes to see if anything is wrong with me. I appreciate their concern but I would just like to be alone.
MatchedXdehctaM
I'm hiking with Cassia again and I could tell that she is excited. She brushes me again and again and I want to ask her if she should be so familiar with someone who is not her Match. She asks me about the poems I saw her reading, the same poems that my father used to circulate around the village, not that she would know much about my biological father. Her hair waves in the wind as she glances me. She is saying something but I don't really pay much attention. It is hard to believe that a girl who's gained so much of Xander's attention is this shallow.
Xander wouldn't be interested in someone because an official told him it could happen, if anything Xander would have already been involved with them, like he was with me when we played the single games. "Do you think we will ever get to climb the Hill?" I ask, wanting to take my thoughts off Xander.
She makes a noncommittal noise and begins to tell me about her grandfather's time on the Hill. I wish she would say more about Xander. I haven't seen or heard from him since he moved up in the ranks of the Raising. Last time we met he told me that plans were being up into place for him to go to Central, he offered me a place and there with him if I wanted. I smiled at him then, Xander always was a dreamer.
I don't know what possesses me to tell her about my life while on the Hill but I do. I know that soon the officials will want something from me and I will not be able to say no, no matter how influential Patrick may be. She was happy to learn more about me, her eyes would widen with every tale and I knew that if I died then I would live on in her.
Cassia eventually takes Xander's place on the air train. She is not as subtle as him and ends up smiling at me. Doesn't she know that we are being watched; that there is an official in the back of the air train watching us right now? I carefully avoid eye contact with her, only looking when she does not. I hope the officials are pleased.
MatchedXdehctaM
I finally get a few rec hours and head off to the forest where Xander and I first tested the red pills. I sit on a fallen log that has yet to be cleared away and observe the foliage around me. My thoughts flutter to the pieces of my story that I have given to Cassia. I want to ask Xander if she had told him about them, if they have even had their first meeting yet but I know the answer would be no. I sigh and stretch, her lack of interest in Xander bothers me, he doesn't deserve to have his happiness cut short because the Society wanted to play with a little girl.
"Hey Ky, how are things?" Xander whispers next to me. I flinch; where had he come from? "I haven't seen you in a while."
He kisses me, putting an arm around my waist, while he pulls me into his lap. I should push away, make sure that the Officials in charge of watching Cassia and I are not around but I miss him. I miss his energy and his quick wit. I miss him with me during the single games, they haven't been the same when he became matched. When I pull away we are both panting and his face is flushed with blood. "Aren't you a matched man?"
He shrugs and kisses me again, this time it's a quick pec. "I am but I miss you. Alot" His breathe tickles my ear. "Have you considered joining the raising? We could really use your wits and stealth."
I laugh, despite not feeling very happy about the question, "Even if I wanted to Xander, I can feel something is going to happen soon; Something that will take me home." I don't tell him about the war in the Outer Provinces and the arbitrations that are being sent out to fight. I'm sure the Raising has told him by now, if they've gotten around to it.
"What are you talking about? The Society wouldn't take you away from the Markhams after what happened to their son." I chuckle in my mind, Xander always was a dreamer.
I hummed and nibbled his neck, trying to distract him from the conversation. When he comments his breathe comes out breathy, "Come on Ky, be serious."
"You're the one who kissed me Xander" I replied, undoing the first button of his plain clothes. "And I distinctly remember you telling about a way to have sex with men."
His body shook with his growl, a violent sound by society standards but so purely Xander that I am forced to melt against him. "Ky stop distracting me, please." His actions contradict his words as his hands run over my body.
"Xander, if there is something I can get before I leave-"
"You're not leaving."
"-Should I leave then, Let me have this, I want us to-" gesture between us, not really wanting to be the first person to put a name to what we both want.
"Ky,"
"Please Xander." He is still tense below me and I know he wants to fight my decision but he relaxes and kisses me again.
"Ok." His resignation is quick and I don't dwell on why. He undoes my pants and pulls a tube out of his pocket. It is one of the packets usually used as a backup pill container but there a pale liquid inside.
MatchedXdehctaM
As I suspect, the officials come and get me. They didn't bother to wait until morning when they strode into my house. Aidia was screaming at them and Patrick was still in his sleep wear when he followed them out of the house. I was the only one calm about this. I knew it was coming as did Patrick and Aida but to have it happen is another thing completely. They drag me down the street, Aida's screaming waking the neighbourhood. I felt my heart constrict as I look at bystanders, Some of them I took part in single games with and others were people I have gone to school with. I will miss this place for all the memories it has of Xander and my aunt and uncle.