This takes place right after Say Anything[SS :: dd/MM]
A repetitive flow of hot air against the side of Priss' neck woke her. With a throaty moan she squeezed her eyes and then opened them.
Blinking away the sleep her vision crystallized.
Her mind woke up when she focused on Linna, still asleep, her breath now striking Priss' chin. Her first thought was, Did we? Which she discounted. They were both in the same position after lying down and also still dressed.
Priss raised herself up and met resistance. Linna's arms were wrapped about her.
With one hand holding herself up she used the other to disengage from Linna. The effort woke the sleeping woman.
Where as Priss had her throaty moan Linna matched with a purr and a pleasant smile formed.
Linna opened her eyes and focused on Priss, "Morning," her tone was joyful.
"Uh, morning."
"Why are you getting up?" the tone was now suggestive.
"Don't you have to work today?" Priss thanked her mind for producing that instantly.
Linna's face went through stages of change; from happy to confusion to worry to absolute shock.
"Oh my god! You're right. What's the time?"
"I don't know, where's the clock?"
"Its in the lounge!" Linna bolted upright, leapt off the bed and scampered out of the room.
Priss eased herself upright and noted satisfactorily that her legs felt a lot better than yesterday. She should be able to walk without leaning on something for support.
"Shit! Shit shit shit!!" Linna cried. She rushed back into the bedroom.
"Late?"
"If I'm fast I can make it on time," Linna dived into the wardrobe and yanked out her clothes.
Priss stood and watched, puzzled then amused as Linna changed. The frantic pace slowed her down as legs and arms got caught removing and putting on articles.
"Help me,"
"What?" stunned.
"The skirt." Linna pointed with her chin, she was buttoning up her blouse and would have to work on the bow after that.
"You can't be serious,"
Linna growled.
Shaking her head Priss picked up the skirt and kneeled down. Linna stepped into the skirt and with a "I can't believe I'm doing this," pulled the skirt up Linna's legs and zipped it about her waist.
With barely enough time to get out of the way Priss fell back as Linna stormed out and then into the bathroom where she applied her makeup, corrected the bow and returned in a half jog.
"I'm going to have to race off right now Priss, sorry."
"That's no problem. I should do the same,"
"Huh? Why?" she rummaged through her handbag checking to see if everything was there.
"I'm OK now. I can stand and get about." Priss had her arms apart in the 'look at me' pose. "So, "
"So..." Linna slipped into her shoes.
"I'll give you a call when I get back to my place. Just so you don't have to worry."
"all right."
"Lock the door but don't shut it, or whatever."
Linna did one last inventory check and then satisfied walked over to Priss, "One for the road."
Priss responded by looking dumbfounded and Linna rolled her eyes, stepped up and kissed Priss on the cheek.
"Got to go, bye" with a smile and wave she left the room yet again.
Her hand on her cheek Priss weakly replied and Linna's footsteps faded away.
She took her hand away and looked down at it. A smudge of lipstick was on the heel.
"This is a mess."
+++===+++
Priss wasted no time in getting herself ready. She located her own clothing and after a quick shower changed into them. As she was wandering around she noticed the photo of her lying on the floor outside the bedroom. Where Linna had thrown it. The glass was broken.
She cleaned up the broken glass and was going to put the photo back but changed her mind. Instead she slipped it into the pocket of her jacket and left the apartment closing the ready-locked door on the way out. She tested it and satisfied walked out on the scene of some amazing events.
+++===+++
Public transport was quite alien to Priss but without her bike she had to figure it out so she could get back to her place. Along the way however she had one thing to do.
She got off the bus at the first photo development store she saw and entered.
It was a small store and she could see the frames section upon entering. She went over and started scanning for a frame of similar size to the one in her jacket.
The Sales Assistant came over, "Can I help you miss?"
"Hmm." Priss took the photo from her jacket, "Can I get replacement glass or do I need a new frame?"
The SA took the frame and studied it. Eyes snapped up when recognising the face in the photo to the person standing beside. Priss returned with a frown and the eyes snapped down again.
"Well, I can see if I've got some glass that'll fit, otherwise you'll probably need a new frame Miss."
"Whatever'll do."
Five minutes later, money having exchanged hands Priss left with two new frames and the photo a new home in one of them. The other she had plans for.
Priss caught another bus after a few direction questions that was heading in the direction she needed to know. Moving onto other matters of concern she took out her phone and dialed.
The phone by her ear she waited a few tones.
"Hellloooo!" the high pitched squeakiness of Nene violated her sense of peace.
"You don't have to yell Nene I can hear you perfectly."
"Hi Priss. I knew it was you. Where are you, its noisy"
"On a bus."
"A bus? What are you doing on a bus, did you crash your bike again?"
"No I didn't crash again." her teeth grated, "My bike's been stolen and..."
"Stolen? Who would want to steal that?!"
"Just shutup and listen. Can you do me a favour and check the records for anything that's come in in the past few days?"
"Oh my god, Priss is asking me for a favour!"
"Will you just get on it," she gave the plate number,
"You just don't worr..."
Priss ended the call and her need to listen to that voice. When the hell is she going to reach puberty?
+++===+++
The trailer was like it had always been.
Parked in the middle of the road surrounded by abandoned half destroyed buildings for a few block radii. Unreclaimed land. A left over from the earthquake that had put her on these very streets and almost destroyed her life.
Very different from the homely calm ordered world Linna lived in and was surrounded by.
Lies all of it. An illusion spun by the government and the corporations to keep the people from seeing what was really going on. At the head of that illusion was Genom.
Hardly anyone else lived in the area. Mostly squatters. The homeless preferred to be closer to aid or handout stations. A few criminals; smuggling warehouses or safe houses. Priss left them alone and they ignored her in kind.
Hardly anyone came out to visit her as well. In the beginning her band members had, after gigs or to practice before they got a proper place. That dried up. It was an intrusion on her private life. She was isolated, free. Sylia a few times all for business. They didn't really have much of connection beyond that. Linna. Linna had. A few times now. The first a real surprise.
Her mind stayed on Linna.
What am I going to do about it? Rejection will crush her. Worse than last night. Stupid of me to have kissed her. All that did was get her hopes up and think there's something there.
Is there?
I don't know. No. What to do.
She walked over to the deck chair. It was a sorry piece of furniture. Pulled out of the junk heaps or some house in the area. She couldn't remember. Like all her furniture. Like her trailer. She'd found it just as it was. Got rid of the cargo for some cash and moved in. A friend at the time had cut into the power grid and everything was set. Except it took a while to heat enough water for a shower.
One convenience of modern living a shower was. So simple, so taken for granted that after not having one for a long time they really come into their own. Taking a shower takes longer just so you can savour it for longer. Feel the heat relax the scalp and run over the skin.
She entered her trailer.
The lights were off. Not that she ever got a bill for consumption. Utility bills had never been a worry. Another benefit of her lifestyle.
Enough natural light from outside filtered in. She didn't mind the dark anyway.
On the wall opposite the door were her photos. Of herself and the band a while back. Nothing new. No frames or anything just stuck to the wall with tape.
Memories.
She looked over them. Searching for the right one. The one that best expressed what she was.
It took a while but she found it. Some of the photos she had to relive and they brought a smile to her face.
Carefully she eased off the tape and took the photo down from the wall. It was normal size and the frame she'd bought would fit.
She returned outside and settled down on the deck chair and pulled out a bag from her jacket. Inside where the frames and both were removed.
The frame with the photo in it Priss could only look at for a moment before feelings of embarrassment and anger made her put it down, picture facing the ground.
The other she slipped the photo she had chosen into. It fit perfectly. Like her mind had already known the photo she was going to choose and had bought the right frame for it.
She held it in both hands.
It was about a year old. No one else was in it beside herself. It was at night time but the lights from the street and reflection on a wet road made it clear. She was sitting on her bike, helmet on the handles and looking towards the camera with a smile. Her hands were crossed over each other and in one she held a disc.
Her throat tightened.
She put the photo down and lay back, closed her eyes. She knew what she would have to do. It was figuring out the right way to do it that worried her.
+++===+++
"Sooo Linna, I can't but help notice that you've been cheerful ALL morning and arrived a little late for work,"
"Misei, I have no idea what you are talking about."
Obviously false sentences like that only encouraged speculation and curiosity.
Misei leaned over her lunch tray, "Spill the beans, who was he?"
Linna appropriately looked embarrassed and turned away, "Can't a girl be happy in this town?"
Linna's coworker looked exasperated. Ever since Linna had arrived at work with 'that' bounce in her step she knew something had gone on. And it hadn't lessened with the longing of the day. God knew that dreary work always took the shine out any day for her no matter how bright it had been. But Linna was still on the glow. That meant it was really serious.
"Lunch break isn't long enough to play games and if you don't tell me now I wont be able to get any sleep tonight."
Linna just grinned and was about to start when her phone chimed.
She answered it, "Hello?"
Priss was on the other end of the line. "Got to work on time?"
"Yeah. No problems. You?"
"None." a pause, "Can you come over after work?" Priss surprised herself with a steady voice.
"Yes! I mean, sure I can."
Misei who could only hear what Linna was saying jumped.
Priss' heart did the same.
"OK, I'll see you then. Bye."
"Bye." Linna drew it out softly. She looked dreamily at the phone.
Misei could almost die. When was she going to find something like that in her life?
+++===+++
Priss dropped the phone in revulsion.
"I wish there was a boomer I could kill!"
+++===+++
The time came.
Priss was boiling some water for coffee when she heard the knock on the outside of the trailer. She'd left the door open.
"Hello?"
"Come on in Linna."
She did so.
"Hmm. Smells nice."
Linna was still in her office clothes. Sometimes she took casuals in her hand bag but hadn't had time today. Being a Knight Sabre meant carrying around a second outfit to change into when the time called, or afterwards if the mission ended late.
She dropped her handbag onto the inside couch. Or bed. She couldn't tell which, and walked over to Priss with the intention of sliding up behind her.
Priss finished with one cup and held it out canceling the move.
"Here."
Linna's face fell a little, "Thanks."
"Take a seat, I'll be just a moment."
Linna took a sip. Hot. She blew on the dark surface. "It smells pretty strong."
"Yeah well." then, "The couch is over there." and hesitantly, "We're going to have a talk and it might be better if you're sitting down."
"Oh."
Oh. Priss felt a stab of pain already.
Linna sat down and sank into the old cushion. Righting herself she blew on the coffee again. The muscles of her jaw were bunched.
Priss finished up and sat down beside her. She drank straight from the cup.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"No. Used to it. Good for hangovers."
Linna tried another sip but it was still too hot.
With everything planed as well as possible Priss began.
"Thanks for all that you did for me on the weekend Linna. It means a real lot to me, that I've got a friend like that. Like you.
I still don't remember what happened to me. But it must have been bad for me to be out of it for a couple of days and needing you to mother me."
"Not mother," Linna said it quickly with force like proving a point.
"I'm more than graceful all the same. I don't think I know any body else who would have done that for me. It really got me thinking about how lucky I am to have you as a friend," she emphasised the 'friend', "and that you are a someone who I would never want to lose as a friend."
"You're making me blush Priss." Linna laughed. Some of the tension had left her, "I can't take any more of this praise."
"You deserve it Linna. Like you deserve someone who will share the same full feelings to you as you would to them."
There, she'd said it. Not as plain as she could have. But it was there and it hung between them like a black inky cloud.
"I... I don't understand what you mean Priss."
"Linna, what happened last night..."
This was going to be more painful than last night. There Linna had just reacted; out of a built up desire that quickly turned to shock and embarrassment when she realised what she had done. She had felt terrible and just wanted to get away believing she had ruined the friendship. But Priss had come to her. Priss had kissed her. And she had never felt happier and so complete.
And now it was being torn down by the very person who had put her there.
"No, no. I don't believe you,"
"Linna listen! This is very hard for me..."
"Like I care." Linna snapped.
Priss ignored the stab, she was causing herself enough wounds as it was, "to do. I've spent all day thinking about now. About how you are a true special friend that I do not want to hurt or lose but am hurting right now," her cheeks felt wet, "by making sure nothing that shouldn't happen between us happens."
Linna held onto the cup tightly. The coffee rippled in her hands.
"So, last night was nothing? It, me, meant nothing to you?"
"Not in the way you want it to mean."
Linna sniffed. Tears were on her own cheeks.
Spanish guitar played over her memories.
"Then why the fuck didn't you tell me then? Why did you... kiss me like you cared?"
Shit. This really wasn't working as expected. She didn't imagine herself breaking down.
Priss put her cup down on the floor of the trailer. It was a bare floor. Like the bare walls.
"Because I didn't know what to do. You surprised me then ran off. I was floored Linna. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. And when you went to your room. I knew you were hurt. That you misjudged me and made a mistake. I only fully realised how you felt just before you kissed me. Romance, flirting- its not stuff that plays a big part in my life so it took a while for me to catch on. I was just glad to have you around. I didn't suspect. So when you were hurt I wanted to stop it. But I couldn't think of how. So, so I kissed you because that's want you wanted. And now we have to deal with that and I have to hurt you again."
"You don't know how much. What did I do wrong to make you reject me,"
"Nothing. Nothing at all. I want to be your friend."
Linna could barely see through her eyes, a blur of the cup and her skirt.
"I must have done something wrong. To make such a mistake. To read you so badly that I thought you liked me. You made me a Knight Sabre. I didn't know where to look. You chose me, you didn't even know me then. And you saved my life the first time I went out in my hardsuit. You were concerned about me, worried about me,"
"I don't want you or any of the others getting hurt, even Sylia. You don't have the same reasons for destroying booms that I do. Look about you, at my place. My life. I put my life in it head on because that's what I've got, you can have a real future without playing superhero. I don't get care if I get killed out there, that's my choice but I do care about others."
"Then what is it? Break the thing you love to save it?" Linna stood up and threw the cup onto the floor. It didn't break, rolled away. To save herself she let anger take over from pain.
Priss stood as well, "Linna, I'm sorry I had to do this. It's for the best..."
"This is for the best!"
Linna's hand whisked out and slapped Priss hard across the face.
Priss reeled back. The emotional force of the blow as strong as the physical. Linna spun away and was heading outside.
Rage rushed through Priss' veins. How dare she? She'd tried her best and didn't expect to be attacked for it. She grabbed hard at Linna's wrist and yanked her back.
"Fucking bitch!" Priss snarled and raised her other hand.
Linna shrank away in horror at the visage boomers saw before their end.
Priss came to her senses before releasing the blow and instead threw Linna back onto the couch. Firmly she put her hands on her hips to hide how badly her arms shook.
"I'm sorry Linna. I truly am. I can't return your feelings in that way."
"I want to go home."
Priss nodded. More to herself. "I'll call Sylia."
She walked to the phone and dialed.
Sylia picked up.
"Sylia, its Priss."
"My my Priss. What do I ow for this rare pleasure?"
"Cut the crap,"
"Is someone with you? I can hear..." what she could hear was Linna crying. Priss was barely in control of herself.
"Can you come over now and pick Linna up?"
There was silence on the other end.
"What happened?"
"Can you?"
"I'll come over right away."
"Thanks."
The line went dead.
Priss put her hand against the wall and leaned her head against it. This was right messed up.
"Sylia's coming over now Linna. She wont be long and you can go home."
There was no response.
"Please don't hate me because of this. I know I shouldn't ask for it..."
"Why should I hate you? I'm the one who is screwed up."
"Don't say that. There is nothing wrong with you. I don't care. The others wont care, and they wont know either."
"I should go back home. To my parents,"
"And give up on everything you have done here? Give up on being a Knight Sabre? I thought you'd already gone through that. We need you Linna. Nene's useless in a fight, Sylia hardly suits up and it makes me feel a lot more comfortable knowing you are there."
Silence prevailed.
+++===+++
Sylia arrived.
The sound of the engine was heard far off. She parked with her lights pointing into the trailer.
The lights inside were off.
The leader of the Knight Sabres dismounted her expensive chariot and entered the derelict trailer.
Her foot struck the cup and it rolled away.
"Priss, Linna?"
"Here Sylia," Linna said softly, tiredly.
"I can barely see in here."
There was some shuffling and a curse and then the lights switched on.
Priss stood by the switch.
Sylia noted that both the girls looked dejected and worn out. Something had happened between then, before Priss had called her.
The older woman put on a smile, "Well here I am Linna. Let's get you home, its late and tomorrow is a work day for most of us."
Without a word Linna stood up.
"The cars outside dear."
She left.
Sylia and Priss remained where they were until they heard the car door open and then close.
"Am I going to find out what happened?" Sylia asked. Her tone was business like.
"No."
"If it effects the operations of the Knight Sabres you had better tell me Priss. If this is another one of your..."
"Can it will you, I don't have the emotional strength left to fight."
"Should I ask..?"
"No!" Priss snapped. "Let her be."
Sylia stopped. She wasn't satisfied however.
"Ah, handbag. Must be Linna's." she picked it up.
"Put these in it," Priss held over two photo frames.
Sylia took them and studied each one in turn. "Are these yours? I find it strange that you'd keep this one." the one of Priss in the dress.
"No, that's Linna's. It broke last night so I had it fixed. The other is... a gift."
Sylia studied Priss' face closely. What ever had happened, it had certainly must have been very interesting. One day she would have to get the story. She had her ideas but she didn't like speculation. She wanted facts.
"I'll give them to her."
"Thanks."
"Are you going to be all right?"
"I'll be fine. Maybe Linna should stay at your place," Sylia raised an eyebrow, "... someone should keep an eye on her I mean."
"That's what I thought you meant. I'll check but its up to her. Speaking of which, I should leave now."
Priss nodded. She didn't move as Sylia walked out. As soon as the engine came to life and the round of tyres on gravel reached her ears Priss switched off the light.
+++===+++
Linna sat in the passengers seat unmoving. Her face was streaked with dry tears.
"We'll be home soon Linna. Or you could stop at my place and I'll have Henderson make up something delicious for supper- he likes spoiling you. He thinks only you appreciate what he does." Sylia looked for any response out of the corner of her eye.
"No thanks Sylia." the sound of Linna's voice made Sylia wince, "I'd just like to go home and be alone." her hands lay over her hand bag.
Sylia let the silence grow.
+++===+++
The car pulled up outside Linna's apartment block.
"You don't need to come up, I'll be fine."
"Sure Linna dear. Do come over soon, Nigel has some changes in the works and I want to test them out."
"OK."
"Give me a smile girl."
Linna offered a weak smile.
Sylia could barely hold herself back from hugging the girl. She didn't want to add to the problem, if she saw it correctly.
"Thanks Sylia." Linna opened the door.
"Good night Linna. Sleep well,"
"Night."
She closed the door and Sylia drove off.
The handbag limp in her hands Linna walked up the steps to the front of her building. Her mind was heavy, her heart shattered. She reached into the handbag for a tissue.
"What's this?" she pulled out the photos.
Of Priss in the dress. She remembered throwing it.
Of Priss on the bike. The corner of a piece of paper sticking up at the back of it. She pulled it out.
To Linna: This is the real me, your friend always; Priss. p.s Come to Hot Legs this weekend, I'll have something special for you.
=============
End of the 3 parter.
Thanks to William 0rbit for his music primarily Strange Cargoes: Hinterland and the track El Ninjo that I listened to constantly when writing this piece of ASCII, and other artists; it all starting with Nine Inch Nails:: Slipping Away the title of the first part and then my imagination for running onwards in sometimes uncharted directions.