PLANE
Chapter 13
Rick just knew this was trouble. Alexis's boyfriend had jumped into the lake while Talia's boyfriend had gone running around the lake. He, on the other hand, was still on his back looking at the sky while Kate, Talia, and his daughter were over there talking. He could hear them but not make out what they were saying.
"All right, explain this to me. Rick is a real Ranger and his mastery is in using the Bow. But he can use a sword and you have a Bow that's kind of a bit of both. In addition Rick could have a better leg instead of the one that he has now. And he could be training in how to use this Bow and still be a better shot." Kate was mostly talking to Alexis. Talia was sort of along for the ride.
"So why is he fighting against this? It sounds like a no-brainer to me." Kate didn't get it.
"Well, Dad does have a point. He is Commander and this is a big city. I don't know what they call it on the Prime Material Plane, but it's his job to make this city work better and keep everyone happy. There may be no crime, but that doesn't mean no problems.
"From maintenance and new construction, to dealing with other Planes, and the Commander of the level below us. Near constant communications. Talia and I aren't the only ones from an Upper Plane trying to combat evil on the Prime Material Plane," Alexis told her.
Then Talia spoke up. "The Prime Material Plane is the single largest Plane in existence. Our Plane pales in comparison. Even the Astral Plane, as vast as it is, isn't nearly the same size."
"All right, he's against going and doing what you two are doing and I'm trying to train to do. So why not replace his leg if there's a better one? I know he told me it reminds him of what happened but wouldn't any artificial leg do that?" Kate wanted him better because she loved him.
"Traumatic event, maybe he knows something about his leg that I don't. I do know his new leg won't just be better for him, it will still be hollow. There can be compartments in his leg that he could put things inside of. Potions, weapons, scrolls… The list is endless," Alexis told her.
That had Kate turning to look at him just lying there looking up at the sky. She could feel her heart reaching out to him from here. "Why?"
"Maybe he'll tell you what he won't tell me. He loves you and he hasn't loved anyone like he loves you since I was just a little girl. I'm glad you're here, Kate." Alexis hugged her. "I'm going to go for a swim. You two are on your own." Alexis headed for the lake and walked out into it till it was deep enough to dive down into. Almost instantly she found herself in her boyfriend's arms and he was kissing her underwater.
"I know it might be hard to think of but he might be just plain scared. He lost his leg last time. Scared to try again. Though Alexis is right. He is Commandeer and can't do everything at the same time." Talia touched her arm with one hand. "Talk to him. You got me to talk, so get him to talk. I'm going to go find him. I need him to fuck me. Damn but he's big." Talia ran off looking for her boyfriend betting that he hadn't gotten that far.
.x{O}x.
Kate sat next to him once they made it home. "You're not talking to me. I've opened up and I'm talking, something I really sucked at. But I love you and I want what's best for you. So you don't want to go training and join us. No big deal. But is Alexis right? There really is a better leg out there for you?" Kate searched his face for a clue. "Please, babe, tell me what's going on."
Kate felt him lean his head down till it was on her shoulder. She liked it when he did that so this was different, but she loved him so she put an arm around him and held him. "Would a blow job help?"
That had Rick huffing out a short laugh or snort, she wasn't sure which. She had him out of his foul attitude at least.
"I was a failure. I almost lost my life and left my little girl all alone. You weren't there to hear to her sobbing next to me in my bed. I can't begin to describe the pain of having to listen to that. To know what I had almost done all because I had failed.
"Through lack of skill or just plain dumb luck." Rick reached out and took one of her hands in his. "Even with a different leg I can't begin to do what I used to do. I won't be helping, Kate. I'll be a liability. You'll forever be watching out for me because I can't keep up.
"This new leg isn't going to make me faster, enable me to jump higher, or run longer. It'll just be different and that's all. I know Alexis is trying to help, but what she wants and what I will be able to do are two totally different things. Those days are over. Wishing for them to come back isn't going to change anything." Rick squeezed her hand.
"Wishing." Kate thought she had an answer. …Didn't you tell me once a Wizard could do a wish?"
"Doesn't work that way. Trust me, I asked years ago, back when Alexis was just a little girl. Wishes can only enhance what's already possible. There technically was one way but it has a flaw. There's a spell called Regenerate. It has to be cast no later than two minutes after you lose a limb and you need at least a piece of that limb pressed into place to regrow it.
"Didn't have a Cleric; it ate my leg so I didn't have a piece of it and by the time I was home it was way past two minutes. And that was years ago." Rick sat back up to look at her. "I'm sorry, Kate. I am what I am and Alexis's best wishes aren't going change that." Rick knew what they were both trying to do but it just wasn't going to happen.
"Well shit!" This time Kate leaned her head onto his shoulder.
"Your idea will work. Between your speed, punching, and kicking skills, Alexis and her whips, and Talia and her acrobatic skills, you three will make for one amazing team. Add whatever tattoos you obtain and you three could be incredible. I have an idea or two that might help you when you're ready. I know people." Rick grinned since he knew damn near everyone in this city.
"I still think this sucks," Kate grumbled.
"Would an orgasm or two help?" Rick offered to help her with that too.
That had Kate grinning since a couple of orgasms just might help. "How about if you feed me first. Maybe a restaurant in the city somewhere this time. I'll even let you buy." Kate grinned a little wider.
.x{O}x.
"Where are we going?" Kate was holding his hand like always; lunch was over and it had been very tasty. Much better than cafeteria food. It simply cost more was all.
"I know someone. See if we can arrange an appointment and if he doesn't have it maybe he can make it for you." Rick opened the door, selected where he wanted to go, and they vanished only to arrive right where Rick wanted to be.
Rick took her inside a building and like all buildings in this place it was different from any building Kate was used to. They didn't use brick or even stone around here. Lots and lots of glass, yes, but she couldn't really identify the rest of it. It wasn't exactly steel but it was something.
"Odius, please?" Rick asked the first person he noticed. He was told he would find him.
Shortly after that Rick heard, "Commander!" A middle aged man who was older than Rick to be sure, but not that old, showed up. He didn't look like a Wizard to Kate. He was even clean shaven. He shook Rick's hand.
Rick introduced her. "Odius, meet Kate Beckett from the Prime Material Plane. She's with me."
"Really! Well word of that is going to spread like wildfire. So why see me?" Odius was curious now.
"Kate is beginning her training as a Tattooed Monk tomorrow. I have a couple of ideas that you might be able to help her with."
Kate watched him reach out and touch her, getting her to twist a little to show him the start of her tattoo.
"Cheetah, I believe. Monk skills. Follow me, both of you. Let's see what we have." Odius turned and walked away, requiring that these two follow him.
.x{O}x.
"What's not in stores for purchase is stored here. Not an easy room to get into. Tattooed Monk." Odius walked around looking. He took down a pair of boots and handed them to Kate and kept looking. Next came a pair of gloves.
"Here, try this." He dropped a plain simple-looking ring in her hand. "Try this belt; it might be a bit wide for you but we can try it anyway." He kept looking. "And this one." He gave her a necklace.
"Now, Boots of Striding and Springing increase your speed and jumping ability even more. Gloves of Dexterity are excellent for an armor bonus to keep from being hit. Belt of Giant Strength makes you a lot stronger. Can't think of one that is narrower, sorry about that. This one, Necklace of Natural Weapons. You'll need to find yourself a Wizard like me, get him to cast say fireburst onto it and with every hit you make you cause a burst of fire all around you within five feet. Or make it sonic, or electricity, or acid." Odius was done with what he had.
"Oh, the ring, forgot about that one. Ring of Regeneration. Basically if you get injured it will heal you given a little bit of time. Also if you… have a limb removed it will…umm, grow it back. But it only works if you were wearing it at the time." Odius stated that last part very quickly and was kicking himself over that one.
"My gift to the Commander, just choose one. Any of them." He didn't care even if the Ring of Regeneration was ungodly expensive.
"How should I know? I'm Prime Material Plane." Kate looked at Rick for some help.
"Prime Material Plane!" Odius began taking things back and putting them where he found them. Kate and even Rick was thinking he was about to throw them both out. Rick hadn't thought of Odius like that but it had never really come up before.
He took back everything but the ring. "You want the ring, trust me on this. You want the ring. Everything else can come later or you can gain a tattoo to do it for you. Slide it onto any finger of your choice and it will automatically adjust to fit your finger. Just remember – never take it off. It will take about an hour to adjust to you and start healing you. After that it will do it automatically. It just needs to adjust to you."
"You're sure I can't pay you for it?" Rick knew it had to be expensive but for Kate he would pay any price.
"Positive, now slide it on and shoo, shoo, shoo." Odius hurried them out of the room and watched as Rick selected a finger and slid it onto Kate's hand. "Remember, don't ever take it off for any reason. This makes us even, Commander, but come back anytime. If I don't have it I will find it for you.
"And I want an invitation," he requested softly and shuffled them out his front door.
"He's weird," Kate commented and looked at her new ring. It wasn't an engagement ring. It was on the wrong finger for that anyway, but based on what Alexis had said she didn't get a ring. She got a piecing somewhere. Oh, that was going to be fun. NOT!
It looked to be made of white gold to her and was totally unremarkable otherwise. It was just a solid ring made out of gold that happened to be white. "This better not be Sauron's Ring of Power," Kate stated. It took Rick a moment to connect the dots till he finally burst out laughing.
.x{O}x.
Kate could honestly say that she was worn out. After coming home from getting her new ring they had migrated to the bedroom and had spent the next however long it had been making love to each other.
My god but he was a lover. Between his fingers, his lips, and his tongue, not to mention his cock, she was dead tired. Screw being called a slut. He kept this up and he just might break her in a way she had never thought possible. Her only real consolation was that Rick was sitting on the floor breathing heavily. She'd given as good as she'd gotten.
"I can't move," Kate managed to tell him and listened to him chuckle. Kate could just make out that her toes were wiggling, so it wasn't that she couldn't move, she just couldn't move.
"How long have you been storing that up?" He couldn't have just spontaneously generated that much energy in bed. Could he?
Rick managed to find the energy to tell her. "Three weeks."
"Oh god! I'm not going away for three weeks again, I can tell you that. You might really break me next time," Kate told him and now she was listening to him laughing.
Kate did manage to find the energy and rolled over just far enough so she could drape her arms over the bed, place her hands on his chest, and slowly rub it. Even after all that she still wanted skin on skin.
"Rick?" She had a question. Granted maybe she should be asking Alexis or maybe Talia but she had a question and he was available. "On the Prime Material Plane typically the man will get down on one knee and show her the ring he has purchased and ask her to marry him."
"Doesn't quite work that way here," Rick told her and put his hands on hers so she stopped rubbing his chest. Because he didn't have another erection in him. If she was trying to start something she might end up breaking him instead of him breaking her.
"Is it socially acceptable here for a woman to ask the man?" Kate asked. "It isn't acceptable everywhere on the Prime Material Plane but it is where I'm from."
Rick's eyebrows shot up. "I thought you already almost proposed once. Is this you trying again?"
Kate freed one of her hands and swatted his chest. "Just answer my question, babe."
"The answer is yes. Much like you're thinking you just need to provide the piercing of choice and offer it to him. If he says yes then you both get the same piercing and have it done, and then comes the ceremony. You can't actually get a piecing done during the ceremony. You just both have to agree on the same one in the same place is all," Rick shrugged.
"I haven't brought it up because you had such a negative reaction to the word piercing when Alexis brought it up," he continued. Meaning he would have already proposed if he knew of a piercing she might accept.
"Anywhere?" Kate questioned again forgetting that she already knew the answer.
"Just so long as it's in full view at all times," he replied. "Can't hide the fact that you are married. There are laws against having sex with a married person that isn't yours."
"Oh, so where do I find this piercing?"
"Same way you do everything else in this city. Use the panel." Rick waved at it on the wall.
"Of course, silly me." Kate managed to kiss the back of his head. "I'm too tired to look."
Rick craned his neck and tried to look up at her. "Too tired for dinner?"
"Do I have to get dressed?" She was betting she had some pulled muscles somewhere.
"Might be best."
"Give me ten minutes and I'll think about it." Kate went back to rubbing his chest now that she had a free hand. "I already have pierced ears." She moved a hand to his ear and ran her fingers around it. "You don't. How do you feel about wearing an earring or two?"
"You may need to keep your hair short to qualify. Otherwise it might be considered hiding it," Rick advised her.
"Well, shit. I was kind of thinking of letting my hair get longer. It has some natural curl to it and I want to look sexy for you." Kate thought earrings were perfect. He just had to get one or both pierced.
"I think you're doing a good job of that already." Rick felt her kiss the back of his head.
"So what's left? Hands, other facial areas. You know, this is hard. I could stop wearing bras and go sheer and get my nipples pierced." Kate grinned since she was teasing him.
Rick raised an eyebrow. "And just what does the baby suckle on?"
"Leave it to you to find a flaw in my thinking." Kate swatted his chest again just for that. "Wait. I don't have birth control and you don't have condoms. What if I'm already pregnant? I've had my period since I've been here." She was safe then but what about now?
He nuzzled her arm. "Maybe we just made a baby."
"Maybe." Kate had to grant him that. God knows he had filled her up just now. "Back to my question. Where do you want to get pierced because I am marrying you even if I have to do the asking around here."
"Since I know where everyone else around here has gotten pierced, I think I'll leave it to you to decide. Just keep in mind there's diamond, aqua diamond, cognac diamond, black diamond, blue diamond, canary diamond, and green diamond to choose from," Rick told her since he was more than willing to marry her.
"Wow, I didn't know diamonds came in that many colors. I guess I need to keep my eyes open a little more." If enough preppies around here were married there had to be piercings everywhere. So what was she missing?
The next morning Kate woke up to Rick with his head planted firmly between her legs. Two orgasms later and Rick had gone into work; she was walking on wobbly legs toward the shower.
"I'm marring him. End of discussion," Kate firmly told the woman in the mirror as she got ready for her day. Today was going to be her first day of Tattooed Monk training. He had an appointment for more tattoo in a little under a week. However, she had time this morning before her training time to do some shopping.
.x{O}x.
"May I help you?" There was a man behind the counter and she could honestly say she had yet to see anyone like him. He was really tall and very thin.
"I was thinking about a nose piercing."
"Of course, in this case over here. A wedding, I presume?" he inquired politely.
"Yes, I'm told we both have to have the very same piercing and I'm running out of places to get a piercing." Kate bent down to take a look.
"Piercings can go anywhere. It can go under your eyebrow, for instance. By that I mean in one side and out the other. It goes under actually."
"Hadn't thought of that. All I have are ear piercings." It was mostly all she knew of. Maybe kids somewhere like London knew differently but she didn't.
"So who's the lucky man?" If she was doing the shopping she must be the one proposing and since it was not unheard of, it was possible.
"Castle," Kate told him and continued looking.
"The Commandeer!?" He was shocked. He hadn't heard any word that the Commander might be getting married. "Wait here." He retreated to the back of his store, searched for his name, and wrote it down.
"Here," he handed over a piece of paper, "you need to talk to his person."
"Why?" Yes, she wanted to marry Castle who was the Commander here, but what did that have to do with this person?
"You have ear piercings. By law your ear piercing must be on display at all times. If you want a variance to this law you need to talk to this person. Perhaps if you wore your hair back often enough he would grant you a variance. Then your options will increase greatly."
"Really!?" She had brought every piece of jewelry she owned, including her mother's ring, of course. Even now it was around a chain on her neck. "Thank you. I know use a panel to find him."
"Right over there," he indicated. "Just come back with your variance and I will do all I can to help you find the right one for both of you."
"Thank you." It was just she wasn't sure she had time to find him, get her variance and then make it to her training time. So she skipped the panel and put the name in a safe place, and headed for her training time. She would arrive early but that was fine.
