Sweetwater II: The Resurrection Chronicles
one
a woman who looked as if she had barely tripped over the twenty nine marker line in the race of age stood at the entry gate of M03400's administrative compound. Hilde Schbeiker, my name is Renée Crichton, and I'm your supervisor. The team leader of the technical and communication group you'll be working in.
Hilde extended her hand. Nice to meet you, Ms. Crichton.
The woman's short curly hair bobbed like curly fries around her ears as she nodded happily. You're the only woman we have on the team so far, actually. Other than myself.
Good, Hilde mused, I've been stuck with girls for the past year and a half. I'm sure they'll be well behaved for me.
You haven't met them yet, Renée began to lead Hilde into her office. They're a bunch of devils either straight from the academy or left over soldiers. Hot pants, that's what they are. A load of testosterone-infused apes looking for something to hang on to!
One of them had apparently walked by, following another resident superior. He had a crop top head of dark brown hair. His eye's were bright green beneath the fluorescent lights. He lifted his hand slowly, pausing at the door, extended his thumb, and flicked it out from behind the top front row of his shiny, white teeth. Reneé, one of the guys, laughed and flipped him off before sitting down, Hilde sure as hell that this was where she belonged.
I'll have someone come show you to the team quarters, Hilde. There's not much more formality than this, I have to tell you. The head man's almost never here, and when he is, he's usually golfing in his office.
___
That same man from before led her out of the administration office and down through a corridor. They passed by two blocks before reaching theirs. He opened the double doors reading TECH' COMM'. A few members of the hooted when he came in. Hilde immediately spotted them. There were three sitting at a lunch table exactly like those that were at Sweetwater. One of them had such a head full of shaggy hair that Hilde could barely see his eyes. The other two were decently well groomed. The farthest one from her wore a beat up baseball cap like a trophy.
It was only the lobby that she stood in, and yet the essence of the entire place shoved itself into every part of her she had to offer. Strong scents of after shave and cologne, the musky scent of man that she reveled in. An oaky, spicy, protective smell that she'd been around and used as her security blanket for years. As long as there was a drop of Azzaro or Old Spice nearby, her heart somehow managed to move on. Heero smelled like a forest, and she remembered it well.
When he'd held her during her stay on earth, his arms around her brought visions of looming pines and sturdy oaks. A smell like that of a fresh rain and a few chopped trees. Suffused with the lingering aroma of dirt and earthy life. And yet, Duo was so less obvious. Spicy, barely there, and yet so powerful that it stayed with you all day. It was a kind of smell, sweet and airy, that had kept memories in her mind even a year after she'd left what she had of him behind on L2.
These men were intrusive, proud. Their presence of sweat and shampoo and Irish Spring and shaving gel was overpowering, yet Hilde would rather have it instead of flowers and fruits. Those things were made in the soil, but men, the scent of them, was made in heaven for women to wrap themselves up in. Certainly a decent woman wouldn't let herself be cradled by a man that smelled like a powder puff.
the man with the shaggy hair greeted, exaggerating aloha. You're the newbie, Hilda?
She came forward and set her bag down. her hand jut out immediately. Hilde Schbeiker.
He shook her hand gingerly, not fully aware of her personality, but automatically liking her nonetheless, My name's Jake.
Jake started with the intros, is Chip.
The cropped-hair guy behind her stood nearby.
Chip said, George is the hick over here!
George slapped Chip on the back of the neck and nodded at Hilde. Nice to have you on board, ma'am. He had a southern accent. Hilde found it cute.
Another man walked in from one of the six doors in the room. Three on each side, which were the individual's bedrooms. He was relevantly tall, and had skin smooth and dark like chocolate. His smile lit up brightly from inside a sleek looking goatee, and Hilde felt her knees go weak. Her eyes got stuck on his hair for a moment as he approached. It was wavy, and shiny like opal, she wanted to reach out and touch it. But then again, she knew it would be a bad idea to do that. Since first impressions mean a lot, she resisted the urge and smiled back up at him when he walked over, taking her hand.
I'm Nathan, he said, and his voice was as smooth as the rest of him. Hilde, right?
She nodded. I like you already. She ground her foot into her toes and bit her lip, why in the hell did I say that?!
Nathan chuckled, his voice like satin to her ears. At least I'll have another civilized human being to talk to now.
Woah, woah, Chip held his hands up, what about the other new
George grinned goofily and spoke out, He's the kind of guy that has a lot of secrets.
I think he's a good man, Jake noted. He works hard. I just bet that he lost a girl he loved or something.
Hilde's heart thumped into her throat. She was still in love with him, after all. Even though she'd gone through so much, she was filled with the idea of finding out what she wasn't coherent enough to learn when she'd met him. Heero came at a bad time, but if he hadn't come when he did, she wouldn't have been able to make it out.
...to be continued...