Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/1117876.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      Multi
  Fandom:
      Gunnerkrigg_Court
  Relationship:
      Sareed/Paz/Kat, Antimony/Kamlen, Antimony/Paz/Kat
  Additional Tags:
      Underage_Drinking, Gratuitious_Use_of_Magic_Fire, Swimsuit_Edition
  Stats:
      Published: 2014-01-03 Completed: 2014-01-06 Chapters: 2/2 Words: 9854
****** Liquid Courage ******
by ScandalousSal
Summary
     Achewater is a tonic that can soothe all anxieties.
***** Chapter 1 *****
A school of fish drifted lazily past the porthole window that looked out into
the depths of the moon pool. Usually Reynardine would be there, paws against
the glass, tail wagging occasionally, but tonight he had vanished to parts
unknown. It was something he did from time to time. There was never a warning,
and when he eventually slunk back a day or so later, neither was there an
explanation. Antimony did not trouble herself with it too much. She could
probably order him to tell the truth, but she had come to value his friendship
and respect too much to do so. Whatever he was up to, it was his business.
Kat was sitting by the open cabinet upon which the television rested, open DVD
cases strewn around her.
"Avatar?"
"Mmm... no." Antimony said. "Seen it too many times."
"Prometheus?"
"I'd like to go to sleep tonight, Kat."
"But it's about science! It's not scary!" Kat protested.
"How about Frozen?" she said, picking up a case that was in danger of
disappearing under the couch.
"Oh alright..." Kat grumbled, sweeping all the open cases back towards the
cabinet and putting them away, one at a time. "But it's only going to remind us
of how freezing it is in here."
Kat was right. The temperature of the room, and indeed the entire dorms,
hovered somewhere between "bloody cold" and "ice". Lindsey had promised to have
the heating repaired by the end of the weekend, but included the disclaimer
that repairing anything on a prototype oil exploration platform is risky
business, and required the utmost care and attention to detail.
Thus, on Friday night Antimony and Kat partook in their unbroken ritual of
movie night with a heavy wool blanket thrown over both of them. Antimony was
just skipping through the ads to get to the main menu screen when there was a
knock at the door. Kat seemed to be expecting this, because she immediately
sprang up and ran over to the hatch.
"Oh, I invited Paz too. I hope that's okay." She said on the way there.
"Of course." Antimony replied automatically.
In reality it was not okay. Antimony had accepted the fact of Paz's presence in
her best friends life, and on paper the two of them were chums as well, but
movie night was a sacred institution and she couldn't help but feel like Paz
was transgressing. The girl shivered as she stepped into the room.
"Ay, it's cold in here..."
Antimony scooted over and Paz sat next to her, smiling politely. Antimony could
have been imagining it, but she got the distinct impression that she had
thought Kat was alone.
"Hello Annie."
"Hi Paz. Good to see you." Antimony lied.
"What are we watching?"
"Frozen," Kat said "we thought it would be fitting."
Paz giggled a little harder than the joke warranted, which annoyed Annie for
some reason she could not quite name. Kat sat and pulled the blanket back over
all three of them. Annie hit the play button, ending the repetitively looping
title menu music. They had barely made it past the dire warnings against
copyright infringement when Annie felt the blanket shift. She watched out of
the corner of her eye as Paz's left hand began to wander- a wooly lump that
migrated steadily over to Kat's thigh and began to rub it gently. She could see
Kat shiver again, although this was not a shiver of cold. The lump moved
between Kat's legs and disappeared as Antimony heard the faint snap of the
elastic in Kat's panties being pried up by delicate brown fingers.
Paz must have thought she was really clever, speeding up her strokes whenever
the soundtrack picked up or someone began to sing. Antimony continued to look
straight ahead at the screen, but she was no longer paying any attention to it.
She felt unspeakably angry that Paz had the nerve to do this to her best friend
while she was sitting right next to her, but although she considered getting up
and pulling the blanket off all of them to expose the shenanigans, she did not.
Instead she listened to Kat's breathing as it got heavier and heavier, until
Paz skillfully brought her to climax during a loud part of the movie. Kat's
eyes squeezed shut and Annie could see her legs shaking ever so slightly,
clenching around Paz's hand.
Normally Kat and Annie would be talking throughout the movie like noisy theater
patrons, calling out mistakes and plot holes or making jokes of their own, but
tonight no one said a word.
===============================================================================
"The Forest? Annie, I don't know. Don't they hate humans?"
Antimony absentmindedly tossed a swimsuit and makeup into her backpack. After a
long, cold night, they had both come to the conclusion that the temperature in
the dorm was insufferable, and that they had no choice but to seek warmer
climes for the weekend. Kat had suggested going to her parents house, but
Antimony had thought of a counter-proposal that struck her as brilliant, and
she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Nonsense. I'm mostly human, and they have no problem with me. Besides, I'm the
medium. I have an open invitation and that includes friends."
"Alright, if you say so then. Do you think Paz can come along as well?"
"What?" Antimony said, her hand freezing halfway to the bag.
"Well..." Kat said, clearly uncomfortable, "...it was just that I had promised
her we would hang out this weekend at my parent's and I don't want to-"
Antimony raised a hand, cutting her off.
"Kat, it's fine. I'm just worried that Jones won't agree. That's all."
That wasn't all. It wasn't even close. Still, Antimony decided that the best
thing to do in this situation was to be gracious and not throw a fit that she
would have to share her friend's attention. It did not stop the fact from
irking her. Why? Why did Paz have to creep into everything like some kind of
virus? Was this going to stop, or was it going to get progressively worse until
they married and Kat stopped having anything to do with her? Kat had assured
her it wasn't like that, but still... Antimony could not help but wonder on it.
"Jones?" Kat replied, looking confused. "I thought you were allowed to come and
go as you please."
"Unfortunately not. Jones is in charge of relations between the Court and the
Wood, and I am still a student here. Not to mention she is in charge of court
security. They will scrub us all thoroughly when we come back. Make sure to
tell Paz that."
===============================================================================
Jones tapped the papers on her desk once to align them all. It only took one
tap. A lot of things were like that with Jones, and it tended put people off.
Not Antimony, though. She waited patiently for an answer.
"I am inclined to say no out of hand." Jones said, at last.
"But...?" Antimony said.
"But since you are the Wood's official medium now, I suppose you can now plan
these trips at your discretion. I am not concerned for your safety, but I am
concerned for the safety of those you plan to take with you. Ms. Donlan and Ms.
Cadena-Blanco have not received the same thorough instruction on what is and
what is not safe. They may cause offense inadvertently, merely by being human,
or worse yet they may bring something back to the Court which we are not
equipped to contain. Quarantine procedures are not idle exercises."
"I understand." Antimony replied, trying to look as though she meant it. "I
will fill them in on everything."
"Very well then. I will ask the headmaster. One moment."
Jones set down the papers she had been holding in a tray marked "out" and
walked through a door in the back of her office, closing it behind her. It was
a thick door, solid steel casing filled with sand to ensure maximum resistance
to fire and to prevent eavesdropping. The room was very small, more like a
concrete closet. Row upon row of deposit boxes lined the walls. She pulled out
her phone and dialed Llanwellyn. After the customary five rings, a very tired
sounding man picked up the phone.
"Hello Jones."
"Hello John."
Without further formality, Jones laid out the request that Antimony had made of
her, and her concerns. When she had finished, there was a long pause.
"I like the idea."
It was not the response she had been hoping to hear, but it hardly surprised
her. John was fond of other people's ideas. It spared him the trouble of taking
the blame.
"It would give us leverage over them. Who then could say we weren't trying to
reach out? To make overtures of peace? And if the time comes, we could strike
from the moral high ground. Not to mention that Ms. Blanco seems to have an
aptitude for speaking to animals. The intelligence she could provide us, even
from a casual debriefing, would be invaluable."
"I am uncomfortable with the idea of using students as pawns, even to further
to goals of the Court."
A small sigh wafted through the speaker. It was John's signature mood: ever so
slightly annoyed. The sheer mildness of his impatience wafted over you, hinting
that this current equanimity might not last long, should the speaker continue
to insist on being unreasonable. It had no effect on her, but she had seen it
at work on lesser minds.
"You don't feel discomfort Jones, you don't feel anything. That's why I offered
you this job and that's why you agreed. It is a little late to be voicing
objections. If you can't see this through, then you cannot continue to call
this place your home. That was the deal. Am I making myself clear?"
"Perfectly." Jones said, her voice changing not a single octave.
There was no goodbye. Only a soft click as the other receiver was hung up.
===============================================================================
Kat was nervous as they departed the Court. Something about leaving the safety
of that massive door and walking down those colossal stone steps made her feel
extremely vulnerable. It was better, though, because Paz was by her side. She
wanted to take her hand, but something told her now wasn't the time. Annie and
Mr. Eglamore were walking a little ways ahead, conversing in low voices. As
they crossed the narrow strip of concrete that connected the two sides, she
could feelthe cavernous gap yawning up at her. She spared it a glance, and then
did not look again.
It was a relief to be on the other side.
Ahead of them Gillite Wood loomed large. It was much more solid-looking up
close. A wall of trees, standing silent on the windless spring day. It was only
a little after nine and the sun had already burned through the clouds. Annie
and Eglamore had stopped and appeared to be waiting for something, so they did
the same. A short time later an odd-looking little green fellow wandered out of
the forest and introduced himself.
"Greetings! I am Jolly Elfsberry. Welcome to Gillite Wood!"
This seemed to be directed primarily at Paz and Kat, so Kat inclined her head
slightly and tried to smile.
"Thank you very much for having us Mr. Elfsberry."
"Oh don't thank me, thank Coyote! He's the one that runs things around here. A
wise old chap, and a handsome devil too, between you and me..." Elfsberry said,
adopting a comically conspiratorial air.
She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Antimony was snickering into her
hand. Obviously there was some joke she wasn't getting, but Kat decided to play
along.
"Come, come! I will show you the path, and then I must depart. Coyote sends me
on many errands, oh yes! I am very important to him." Jolly continued, turning
and beginning to walk back towards the forest.
They followed suit, waving goodbye to Eglamore as he left them and returned to
the Court. Soon the trees were all around them, and a firm dirt path underneath
their feet, studded here and there by flat cobblestones that looked so worn
they might have been natural rocks.
"I wager Fire-Head Girl can take it from here eh?"
"I wager I can." Antimony replied.
"Splendid. Tah!"
And with that, he was gone again. Kat looked back at Annie. She was so
confident, so self-assured in this strange situation...
Annie happened to catch her eye.
"You look nervous Kat."
"I am."
"Don't be." Annie said in a reassuring tone. "Coyote wants you to have a good
time here, trust me. It's in his best interest, and what he wants usually
happens, one way or another."
It was so much deeper than it had looked from the far side of the divide. The
trees were thick as stone pillars, and through their branches the sun streamed
through in green and gold, the light constantly shifting as the leaves moved in
the gentle breeze. Strange, colorful streamers flitted past them like insects.
Just beyond the path Kat occasionally caught a glimpse of otherworldly
creatures, crunching through the underbrush. A group of living shadows paused
their frolicking to watch the newcomers walk by. They then commenced to stalk
them playfully for a little while, before growing bored and gamboling off into
some new direction.
After a while they reached a large fallen log, and beyond that, a bright burst
of sunlight and a clearing beyond. As they stepped across the log, balancing
carefully, and out into this glow, their eyes adjusted and they saw the village
all around them. It was very clever and carefully designed. It almost looked
like it had been grown from the very same bark and roots as the trees it
adjoined. Kat stared in amazement at the sinuous branches woven together to
support the tremendous weight of each house. Her nervousness was entirely
forgotten now, driven out by a sense of wonder. She had never seen a place like
this in her life, and something told her that it would be quite a while before
she saw something comparable again.
They were greeted by two Anwyn, a boy and a girl, both several years older than
them and each as green as the dappled leaves that lay all around them. Kat
could not help but notice that they were both very good looking...
"Hey Kamlen, Hey Sareed. Where is everyone? Seems awfully quiet around here."
"Hello Annie. Me mum told us you would be coming. My old man is away on a long
hunt, he took the other chiefs with him. Everyone else is sleeping in." The boy
replied. "And who are your friends?"
"This is Katerina and Paz." Antimony said, gesturing at the two of them.
Kat swallowed her nervousness and shook their hands.
"It's very nice to meet you both. Annie has told me all about you, Kamlen."
"Has she now?" Kamlen said with a laugh, and Antimony turned bright red.
"It's not like that-!" Annie started to say, but Kamlen cut across her.
"Relax! I'm only teasin'. Come along then, we'll show you where you'll be
staying."
And so they walked through the village, Sareed pointing various things out to
them as they went. Kat was very shy at first, but Paz was not, and she soon
found that it was very easy to talk to Kamlen and Sareed. Whether it was good
manners or just an amiable nature, they seemed to be always interested in what
she had to say, whatever it was. After a little while they reached a large
house near the middle of town, this one suspended above the ground like many of
the others. A length of rope with a loop on the end hung down from a gap in the
floor. Kamlen simply crouched and leaped the distance, which Kat noted was
conspicuously higher than she had ever seen a human jump.
Sareed, however, stuck her foot into the loop of rope.
"Do your trick Annie!"
Antimony closed her eyes, and they watched as the other end of the rope began
to tug itself, hauling Sareed upwards until she could step onto the ledge.
"Oh, that's so cool! Me next!" Paz said eagerly.
Soon they were all standing on the floor of the Anwyn house, looking down at
Antimony.
"I want to try something, but I don't know if it will work..."
As they watched in amazement, her shoe-clad feet left the ground and her body
floated upward as if it were no lighter than a feather, her eyes tightly shut
all the while. Suddenly the spell seemed to break, and her arms flailed. One of
them managed to grasp onto the ledge, and Kamlen quickly pulled her up.
"Annie... that was incredible!" Sareed said.
"Ysengrin's been teaching me. I haven't quite got it yet..."
One of Kamlen's younger brothers was watching them intently as though
transfixed, a broom frozen in one hand.
"Whoah... they come in different colors!"
It took Kat a good second to figure out that after seeing Annie he had probably
assumed that humans were only pale-skinned and red-haired. This struck her as
incredibly amusing, but Kamlen seemed worried that they would be offended.
"Shut up Tam! You'd better keep your nose to the floor or mam will tan your
'ide!"
"Oi! I'll do what now?" A large woman said, emerging from around a corner, a
bundle of candles under her arm. A newborn baby was swaddled to her chest. It
appeared to be sleeping.
"Hello Khepi!" Annie said hugging her. "What is his name?"
"Good t'see ya, lass! We've not decided yet. Me and the Bo want to think of a
good 'un."
Antimony stroked the babe's cheek gently and it fidgeted in it's sleep, unaware
of the world around it. Khepi went off into another room and Kamlen lead them
down a hallway to a door at the end. There were no beds, but three woolen
sleeping rolls had been laid out on the floor.
"Here's the guest room, I know it's not much..."
"Much better than where we were sleeping last night." Kat said.
They laid down their bags and everybody sat for a while, talking and joking and
laughing. Sareed was very curious about where they slept, and seemed utterly
bewildered at the idea of central heating, and even more bewildered by the idea
of making school kids sleep in metal bubbles underwater.
"It's as much a mystery to me as it is to you." Annie had said.
As they talked the sun crept up into the sky and the temperature began to
increase until Kat noticed that she was sweating. Sareed seemed to have noticed
as well.
"Kam, let's go down to Jumper's Pool, it's deathly hot out."
"That sounds lovely."
"Oh, uh... I didn't bring my swimsuit." Kat said sheepishly.
"Don't worry, I packed you one." Annie said at once.
===============================================================================
Antimony felt strangely at home as her bare feet tread over the soft soil of
the path. Even though she would always be more at ease with the walls of the
Court surrounding her, there was also a history to those walls, a history she
did not like. Here, it was as though all of that, and all her petty
disagreements and squabbles had melted away underneath the warm sun. She was
even talking to Paz differently- more easily. It was so easy for her to do
that, to be cold when she thought she was concealing her disdain behind
politeness.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she almost ran smack into Kamlen, who
had stopped and was standing stock still. Very soon afterwards, she spotted
what he was looking at. A huge creature was standing in the middle of the
trail. It was vaguely ursine, covered in thick, shaggy brown fur and with beady
black eyes, but it was like no bear she had ever seen. Although it was
enormous, it's footsteps were muffled by large pads. At the end of each of
these padded paws was a set of devastatingly large claws. Although they were
covered in mud and looked more suited to digging through tree bark and dirt,
she had no desire to test their effectiveness against flesh. It was watching
them as they all stood speechless and terrified, a low rumble building in it's
throat. Antimony allowed her mind to reach out through the ether, and a small
flame kindled in her hand, flickering even though it was a windless day. Kamlen
reached slowly to his belt and withdrew a knife.
"Be ready to run." He said softly.
Before any of them had a chance to do anything, Paz stepped forward and said,
loudly:
"Sólo queremos ir a nadar, nos dejen en paz!"
The animal stopped growling immediately, regarded her for a moment, and then
turned and began to lumber off into the undergrowth with a hearty snort.
"What a grouch..." Paz remarked idly. "Shall we continue?"
Sareed and Kamlen were speechless.
"What... how...?"
"Paz can talk to animals. I forgot to tell you, sorry." Antimony said, unable
to repress a smile.
"Can everyone in the Court do magic? What's your power Kat?" Kamlen said.
Kat suddenly became very interested in her shoes.
"Not everyone, no. I can't do any magic."
"Nonsense!" Paz piped up. "You build robots, Kat, that is magic to me."
"Oooh!" Sareed said as they resumed their walk. "Annie told us about them... is
it true they think you're an angel?"
And so the conversation resumed again. Antimony contented herself to listen,
glad that she had been able to make her friend feel a little more important.
Paz was right, though, it really was magic what she did. Not just what she
built, but the way the machines reacted to her. It had been getting more and
more pronounced recently- to the point that Annie wondered what was driving it.
Even Robot was starting to act a little funny. Kat was doing her best to
explain some of this to Sareed, but each response only prompted more questions.
She was particularly astounded to learn that they have a friend who is a
machine, and even more astounded to learn that said machine was best friends
with a shadow person who could speak "the two-leg tongue" and walk in three
dimensions.
===============================================================================
When Jumper's Pool finally wound it's way into view, Kat quickly found a bush
to change behind. She gave the swimsuit that Annie had given her it's first
real appraisal. It was a two piece deal with strings, the kind of thing that
Kat abhorred more than anything else besides dresses. Still, she did not want
to seem like an awkward little duckling, so she quickly stripped and pulled it
on. Annie and Kamlen had already jumped in the water, the former having worn
her swimsuit underneath her street clothes and the latter simply taking off his
shirt and diving in.
Sareed and Paz were still talking incessantly about robots and their habits.
For some reason, neither of them seemed shy about changing in front of one
another, and Kat couldn't help but steal glances at their bodies. Sareed was
beautiful, shapely, green and developed, with wonderful curves all over. Paz
was equally lovely, and the bikini looked right at home as it hugged her slim,
tan body. Kat felt like a worm as she emerged from behind her bush, but as
usualy Paz seemed to be able to read her discomfort a mile a way and already
had a plan to counter it.
"Damn chica, you should wear a bathing suit more often..." She said in a
playful voice, flicking Kat with her towel.
"Hey, stop that!" Kat said, but she blushed and felt immeasurably better.
Sareed was laughing too.
===============================================================================
They had split into two groups once in the water. Paz, Kat and Sareed seemed to
be getting along wonderfully, which gave Antimony plenty of time to talk to
Kamlen. Kamlen was a rather reserved character at first, but once you got him
talking the words flowed and flowed. Humorous anecdotes, stories of pranks on
the sly, some ending in capture and some in which they got away cleanly and
pinned the blame on a deserving victim, the latter being the best ones in her
opinion. He told her of his father's high expectations of him, of his mother's
epic temper and of his sibling's many mischievous exploits.
He told her about how his girlfriend was off in the forest for two weeks,
training to be a medicine-woman. Antimony filed this last fact away in her
head, where it bounced around with feverish excitement. She remembered what
Irial had said about her man...
"He's too friendly for his own good."
She swam several small laps, making sure that he got a good view of her figure
and at the same time pretending that it was not for his benefit. When she came
to a stop again, he splashed some water at her with the back of his hand.
"You're a right little waterbug, aren't you? Funny, for some reason I always
thought humans didn't like water."
"What?" Antimony said, unable to contain a laugh. "Where on earth did you get
that idea?"
"I dunno. I reckon its because the river separates us, and the old stories
always say the humans wont cross it."
"No one on the forest side can cross it either, that's why they built the
bridge." Antimony replied. "And as you can clearly see, I'm soaking and I'm not
about to wither up and die."
"Nah, you're not soaking. Not yet." Kamlen said with a grin, sending a huge
plume of water towards her with both hands.
"Ack! Quit it!" Antimony laughed as he dipped his hands in the pool again and
the torrent continued.
She thrust her hand out wildly and a jet of flame erupted from it, vaporizing
the oncoming water. It continued through the air, just missing Kamlen's head
and scorching the rock wall behind him.
"Alright, alright!" Kamlen said, throwing his hands up. "I can see I'm
outmatched. You're getting better at that."
"It helps that I'm not drunk."
After their hands and feet were sufficiently wrinkled, they all went back up
onto the shore to dry off in the hot noon-day sun. Kat and Paz shared a towel,
and Antimony simply slipped on her clothes and ignited herself, the excess
water billowing away in clouds of steam. She made sure to stop it once all the
damp spots were gone. She couldn't afford to ruin a set of clothes every time
she did that.
"Cheater!" Kamlen said with a chuckle.
On the way back, Kat and Sareed were deep in conversation on how buildings in
the Court were made, compared to how the Anwyn did things. Paz was listening
intently, which, it suddenly struck Antimony, was one of her best positive
traits. She and Kamlen, on the other hand, were walking along in comfortable
silence. She walked slightly ahead of him, and she could swear she could feel
his gaze on her. It made her walk with a little more sway in her step. A small
but insistent part of her brain that she did not often listen to was telling
her that it would be a good idea to move her hips just a tad more than usual as
she walked.
"I was wondering, though, how do you get such little branches to support all
that weight?"
"We weave them together in a special way, my teacher showed me how when I
started. She was the one that helped us with our house. She does many of the
larger houses. I can show you some of her work if you like."
"Tell you what-" Kamlen said, interrupting Sareed. "Antimony and I have to pay
a visit to Old Man Widder, we'll meet you back at the house."
"As long as I don't get in trouble for it this time." Sareed replied.
The path diverged, and they took leave of each other. Antimony did not ask him
who Old Man Widder was, although she thought she had a pretty good guess.
Kamlen was ahead of her now, wordlessly leading the way onwards, through the
brush that was growing thicker by the minute. At last two huge ferns hung in
the way and Kamlen pushed them aside to reveal a small clearing that contained
an even smaller wooden hut. Next to it was a shelter of sorts. A pit had been
dug into the ground, and a wooden board laid over the top of it, held up by
small piles of stones. Inside this were a series of charred wooden vessels.
Someone had ingeniously hollowed out one of the thick, fibrous vines that hung
everywhere and made it into a tightly coiled tube that lead from one cask to
the other. A bed of glowing coals heated the casks, and somewhere down inside
she could hear bubbling, but the smell and steam prevented her from getting her
face close enough to see it. Bottles were strewn about, most in two general
groups- empty and full. The full ones were lined up neatly beside the shelter
in rows. The empty ones were scattered all about, and in the midst of these lay
what she assumed to be Old Man Widder, fast asleep.
"This is where we get our achewater." Kamlen said, apparently not at all
worried about waking Widder. "A flask here, a flask there. He doesn't notice."
Someone else noticed, though. High up in the trees, Coyote lounged like a Puma
with a fresh kill, grinning from ear to painted ear. Kamlen was a clever boy.
He would be much easier to work with then his father.
===============================================================================
By the time they had all returned home, Khepi was nowhere to be found. A note
on the dresser in the living room told them that she had gone out to help a
very ill man in the next village over. Kamlen went and got some food from the
larder and they all gathered in the spare room. After a while, Sareed vanished,
and reappeared with a guilty smile and five cups. Antimony held out her hand to
Kamlen expectantly, and he retrieved the flask from his pocket and placed it in
her hand. She poured them each a double measure.
"If you don't like it, you don't have to drink it." Sareed said
"But it's much more fun if you do." Antimony added.
Kamlen and Sareed downed theirs in one, as did Antimony. Paz and Kat both took
a sip at the same time, and both nearly spat it out, but managed to swallow in
time, if only to stop the burning. Kat choked.
"Geeze Annie... what is this?"
"Achewater." Antimony replied. "It's good stuff once you get used to it."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sareed absentmindedly touch her hand to
her cheek, where she had been slapped. As time flowed by and more achewater was
poured, she saw a different side of Kat. She talked freely, without even a hint
of her usual shyness or reserve. Antimony and Kamlen found themselves simply
sitting and listening as Sareed, Kat and Paz talked about the Court and the
Forest.
She had finished her entire cup, but she did not feel the need to pour herself
more. A warm happiness bubbled behind her eyes, making her think fondly of her
best friend, and all the wild things they had endured together. Cursed teapots,
mythical creatures. Robots and magic. Death and first loves. When she had
fallen nearly to her death, it had been Kat who built an anti-grav vehicle to
come save her. She couldn't quite say why, but somehow she knew that this would
not the last time Kat saved her neck. Kamlen's gently placed elbow prodded her
back to the present.
"I think your friends are enjoying themselves."
She and he were leaning against the wall like common drunks as Sareed, Paz and
Kat sat in a semicircle on the three sleeping rolls. They were chatting
animatedly and showed no signs of ceasing any time soon. Occasionally one of
them would crack a joke, and they all laughed uproariously.
"It's nice to see her come out of her shell a bit." Antimony said, slurring her
words a little.
She looked up at Kamlen then, because that seemed to be the right thing to do
to punctuate this statement, or so the achewater told her. He was looking at
her too, and his eyes had a curious twinkle in them.
"I don't think I've showed you my room yet?"
"You have a room to yourself?" Annie said in amazement.
Having grown up in a hospital and then a boarding school, she had only ever had
fantasies about having her own room.
"Yeah, come on, I'll show you."
Their departure was quiet and went unnoticed, except by Sareed. As Antimony
glanced back at the happy scene one more time, she saw Sareed staring at them
with a hard expression. Then Kat said something, and it melted back away into a
smile. It was so quick it was almost unnerving.
===============================================================================
Kat felt incredible. Better than she had, perhaps in all her life before. It
was such a small price to pay, that initial bad taste, for this... this
wonderful light-headedness. Suddenly all her usual worries, the doubts that
gnawed at her and kept her mouth shut, all melted away, and she was free to say
whatever she wanted, consequences be damned. It helped that Sareed was such a
nice girl, such a friendly girl... Kat wished that they had girls like her in
the Court.
"How did you two meet?"
The question caught Kat by surprise. Suddenly all the liquid courage had
drained out of her, and she couldn't meet Sareed's eyes.
"What's wrong?" Sareed asked, clearly worried that she had caused offense
somehow.
"It's nothing-" Paz said with a hiccup. She had finished her "Some humans think
that girls should not like other girls."
Sareed looked puzzled at this.
"Really? Why?"
Paz shrugged.
"It's a long story. If I told you-" *hic* "-if I told you the whole thing we
would still be talking when the sun came up."
Suddenly Kat felt a familiar warmth on her right hand as Paz took it in hers.
At that moment, Kat felt safe. Whenever Paz was that near, her worries were
not.
"In the Wood, you're allowed to love who you please." Sareed said. "I've slept
with women before, although I still plan to find a man and have babs of me
own."
Paz giggled, and Kat felt her jaw drop. She didn't quite know what surprised
her about that fact... but somehow it made her heart race.
"You're very pretty Sareed, dios mio... I wish I had half your looks!" Paz
said.
Sareed laughed, and threw her hair back, clearly enjoying the compliment.
"You're not bad-lookin' yourself, child! I love the way you've cut your hair."
Kat looked to her left, and saw the last of her finger of achewater, sitting
alone in it's cup. She took it and drained the rest. It barely burned anymore,
going down almost like water. What was one more little drink, right?
"So... how much have you done together?"
Kat didn't understand the question at first, but then she blushed bright red.
"Nothing! I mean... we've kissed and also..." she trailed off.
Before she could think what to say next, or spend another awkward moment
wondering, Paz did something amazing.
She leaned over and kissed her.
Kat was surprised at first and felt awkward doing it in front of Sareed, but
the first few moments were so wonderful that she could not help but close her
eyes and go along with it. When they broke apart, she was almost panting.
"Paz, what-?" She said, but she was smiling. Smiling even though she hadn't
intended to.
She looked over and saw that Sareed had a wicked grin plastered on her face.
"You know, I can show you two how to do more than just kiss..."
Kat's heart began to race once more. But now it was not nervousness. It was
excitement. Did she really want to do that...? Here...? Now? The thing that so
excited her, was that she knew the answer was yes. She had just never imagined
it would happen like this... She looked at Paz, but Paz was looking at her too.
"W-what do you mean?" Kat said, unable to keep her voice from trembling.
Sareed scooted her sleeping roll closer to them, so that all three of them were
very close together. Sareed looked at Paz.
"Paz, you seem like you already know what I have in mind. Would you like to go
first?"
"What about Kamlen and Antimony?"
"Something tells me they won't be bothering us."
Suddenly Paz was wearing a grin similar to the one Sareed had earlier, an
expression Kat had never seen on her face. Something about it made her feel
very hot around her waist...
"Just relax Kat..." Paz said, as she leaned in for another kiss.
Kat closed her eyes and let herself go, pausing their embrace only to allow
Sareed to pull Kat's Vault-Tech shirt over her head and discard it. It was
terrifying and wonderful and free, thinking nothing in her mind but the joy
that the feeling of their bare skin touching brought her. No blueprints, no
plans, no homework, no tests, no studying... just that wonderful warmth, and
the knowledge that someone thought she was beautiful... that someone cared.
Paz was much stronger than she looked. She pushed forward, leaning Kat back
until she was lying on her back, her legs flopped out on the floor. Kat lay
down on her right side, and Sareed at her left.
"May I?" Sareed asked.
"Of course." Paz replied, slipping her hands into Kat's knickers.
Kat gasped, and her thighs squirmed. It felt so unbelievably good... Paz seemed
to know exactly how to rub her, and soon she was panting again. Moisture was
dripping down her thighs. She had read so many pulp novels about it, had pawed
herself so many times in the wee hours of the night, after Antimony had gone to
sleep, but to be doing this... it was something completely different. It was a
wondrous thing to be moved purely by instinct. She looked up and saw Sareed
taking her shirt off. She then leaned down and kissed Kat, sticking her tongue
deep into Kat's mouth. At the same time Paz was speeding up her ministrations,
rubbing her more frantically every second.
Something like lightning shot through Kat's body. Her thighs clenched up around
Paz's hand, and a cascade of wetness spread out in a dark splotch on her pants.
At the same time an involuntary noise escaped her lips.
"OoOooOooooooh..."
"My turn." Sareed said, and slipped her hand in next to Paz's.
===============================================================================
Kat did not know quite what it was that awoke her from sleep. It was completely
dark out now, but it was warm where she was. Paz was sleeping just to her right
and Sareed was on her left, her bosom resting against Kat's back. None of them
had many clothes between them. She realized then that her throat was very dry,
so she slid out from between the other two girls and walked down the hall to
get a drink from the stone basin in the kitchen. As she rounded the north
corner of the house, she heard noises coming from a room just to her left. The
booze was still swirling in her head, and as she crept forward to the doorway
she pretended she was Solid Snake, and had to stifle a giggle.
She moved to the door-frame and peaked in.
The room was lit by a single candle on a desk. Antimony was on the bed, her
head resting against the wall and her legs splayed out wide. Kamlen was between
them, pushing his body against hers rhythmically, his well-muscled buttocks
clenching and unclenching. Annie was making noises that Kat had never heard
before.
"Mmmf, god-yes-yes-plea-oh, mmmmmm-oh god, shit, ah yes..."
Annie's head was resting on Kamlen's shoulder as he took her. Luckily her eyes
were closed, so she did not see Kat moving from one side of the door frame to
the other. Kat got her drink and returned by another route. It was odd-
yesterday her whole world would have been turned upside down by what she had
just seen, and now... now it only mildly amused her. She slipped back under the
covers and nuzzled her head up against Sareed's chest. Sleep came almost
instantly.
***** Chapter 2 *****
When Kat opened her eyes again daylight was streaming in through the open
window. She was alone in the room, the blanket still draped over her, and for a
moment the previous night seemed impossibly far away. It had to have been a
dream... and yet as she felt the blanket against her bare skin and realized she
wasn't wearing any clothes, she knew it hadn't been. She felt slightly groggy,
but none the worse for wear, all things considered.
A wonderful smell was wafting through the door and into her room, and she could
hear the faint sounds of people talking and moving about, so she grabbed fresh
clothes from her backpack and changed quickly. When she traced the smell back
to the kitchen, she found Sareed bent over the wood stove, moving a large
quantity of eggs around in an iron skillet. Paz was already there too.
"Morning sleepy head!"
"Morning." Kat mumbled through a yawn, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
Sareed was all smiles when she turned to fetch a plate and place it in front of
Kat. It was almost as though last night had never happened and they were still
just good friends, the kind who shared compliments and conversation rather
than... well, sex. She didn't know exactly how to feel about it. A part of her
had thought that sex was somehow inextricably bound up with love, but last
night had taken that view and shook it, and the pieces were still settling into
a new normal.
"Did you sleep well?" Sareed asked.
Paz giggled. "You must have. Your legs were shaking so hard I thought you were
going to have a seizure."
For some reason all three of them found this hilarious, and they all relapsed
into laughter, Sareed's wooden stirring spoon falling out of her hand and
clattering on the wooden floor.
"Alright, what's so blasted funny that ya gotta laugh about it at this hour o'
the bloomin' day..." Kamlen said, shuffling into the kitchen wearing the same
clothes as the day before.
He plopped himself down next to Kat, who tried not to blush. The two more of
the Anywn boys came behind him, with Sareed's younger sister in tow.
"I'll tell the joke later, Kam."
"Why are you making breakfast?" The younger girl asked, clearly unhappy. "You
always cook 'em too much."
"Mum's still out, and if you don't like my cooking you can go make your own.
More for our guests."
Sareed glanced over her shoulder again, and then took the pan off the flame and
went to fetch more plates while the boys talked with Kamlen about something
happening later that day- some kind of ball game or other. Annie wandered in,
and Kat noticed that she was walking a little differently, as though she had
slept in a funny position and was sore. When she sat down at the table, Kat saw
that although there were deep circles under her eyes, her expression was soft
and calm. Kat was grateful for the boy's chatter. None of them seemed like they
were in a mood to talk yet. Kat knew that there were going to be some
interesting confessions shared between them, somewhere down the line- because
friends don't keep secrets from friends. But now, for some reason, she didn't
feel as apprehensive about it as she once would have. What would happen would
happen, and they would still be friends.
Sareed chopped the eggs up and began doling them out, which gave them all
something to look at besides each other.
A new kind of feeling had settled over Kat. It was a contentedness, a surety...
she had never felt it before. She felt like she knew herself better now,
herself and others too. Once upon a time she had watched people from a
distance, as she suspected Annie had as well. She looked upon their faces,
laughing and talking and joking and wondered "what makes them normal, and me
weird?". In truth, they weren't such mysterious things after all. In truth,
most everyone was a little weird, and if they weren't a little weird they were
a little boring. Suddenly she realized she was incredibly thankful that Annie
had chosen to take them along. She really was a true friend, in every sense of
the word.
===============================================================================
A wind had picked up as they slid down the rope and onto the grassy ground, one
by one. Their backpacks were packed. Annie had her makeup on. She hesitated for
a moment before grabbing the rope. Kamlen was there on the landing with her,
seeing them all off while Sareed cooked another batch of eggs. They exchanged a
meaningful look, and Kamlen handed her the glass jar with the remainder of the
achewater in it. She slid it into her pack, and Kamlen said something that Kat
didn't catch.
"Of course." Antimony replied, and slid down the rope to join them.
They spent the rest of the walk back to the bridge in silence, all three of
them simply taking in the perfect morning air. Kat had never realized how
beautiful this place truly was until she had to leave it. She found herself
wondering when she would be back...
Something about windy days always made Kat feel excited, as though the air
rushing against her clothes was pushing her onward somehow, or playfully
resisting her. The dozens of small noises she had heard and been terrified by
on the way in were drowned out by the susuration of the breeze as it fluttered
past their ears.
Soon enough though, the trees began to thin and the underbrush receded, until
at last the massive face of Gunnerkrigg Court emerged- an unending front of
concrete, glass and steel stretching in either direction. This time, Kat didn't
look down into the chasm as they crossed the was waiting for them on the other
side. They did not walk up the stone steps to the main hall, however. Instead
Jones led them left, and to another smaller door on the side. This led into a
long hallway with a single door at the far end.
"We do not usually employ this procedure, but the two of you have not been
trained as Antimony has, and may have unknowingly taken items with you that are
dangerous to the Court."
"Dangerous how?" Paz said.
The door opened into an L-shaped washroom with individual shower stalls. They
had dividers between them, but they were only about shoulder-high. Two of the
stalls already had towels draped over them.
"One of the things you will be searched for is any seeds, spores or
microorganisms you may have picked up during your stay in the forest. Meet us
in the next room when you are done. "
"What about Annie?" Kat said. "She doesn't have to decontaminate?"
Antimony snapped her fingers (entirely for dramatic effect), and she burst into
flames. The fire raged for about three seconds, and then went out, leaving no
soot marks on the ceiling or the floor. Then she gave them a cheerful wave and
followed Jones out of the other door.
Kat rolled her eyes.
"She could be a little more humble about it."
"If you've got it, flaunt it." Paz said, giving Kat's bottom a friendly pinch.
They stripped down to bare skin putting their clothes in two piles safely out
of reach of the spray. The water came out of the shower head boiling hot,
causing Kat to yelp and twist the knob. Gradually the stream became cooler, and
she scrubbed herself down, using the liquid soap provided for them. It smelled
faintly like lilacs and petroleum. She felt a pair of hands wrap around her
from behind. Paz's chest pressed against her back, and her chin rested gently
on her shoulder. Kat worried for a moment what would happen if Jones decided to
check on them, but by and by she came to the realization that she did not care.
"You are beautiful, chica."
"Thank you. So are you."
She swiveled in Paz's embrace to find that she was wearing a more serious
expression than Kat had envisioned.
"I don't just mean looks, Kat." She said, brushing a wet strand of hair out of
Kat's eyes and tucking it behind her ear. "You have a beautiful mind. That is
the reason I care for you so much. You should never spend another second
worrying what other people think."
Kat felt something strange swell in her chest. She understood now why the
Greeks had thought that all passions originated in the heart. She wanted to
tell Paz that she understood, that whenever she was near Kat felt like she was
the bravest person that ever lived. But she was not good with words, so instead
she simply said:
"Paz... I think I'm in love with you."
Admitting it felt like going over a waterfall, but as usual Paz has the perfect
reply to sweep away all the meaningless words. The kiss seemed to last a
lifetime as the warm water flowed over their intertwined forms, washing away
the last dregs of doubt and uncertainty.
===============================================================================
The days rolled by. Antimony moved between classes in something of a daze. She
felt removed from it all, somehow. The routines blended into one another, a
blur of pencil, paper and bookbag. She took no notes in any classes, not that
she often did anyway. Instead she doodled as her mind wandered back to the warm
feeling of Kamlen's arms against hers.
She allowed herself to slip out of her body and float up through one of the
glass skylights that had been left ajar. Her etheric projection touched down
gently on the rooftop, and she turned her gaze across the divide. It occurred
to her that Jeanne must have done this very thing, years and years ago. Except
to Antimony's knowledge, Jeanne had not had etheric ability, and looking at the
forest with her body's eyes was nothing as compared to what it actuallylooked
like. Life and joy and wildness seemed to radiate out from it in all
directions, expressed in colors that she could not name aloud. She had asked
Ysengrin once what all the multicolored streamer things were. At times they
flitted past like butterflies, and at others they simply lay draped across
branches out of reach, as though they had never been alive at all. A far-off
look had come into the old wolf's eyes.
"They are memories." He had said. "The forest is rich with them. The ether is
strong here. In the Court they suck it out of the water and the air and hoard
it away, thinking like fools that they are harnessing it. Here in the Wood it
flows freely, and though things may move on from this place... they never truly
die. A little part of them always remains here."
She remembered it almost as clearly as if she was there now. They had lain
together afterwards, drifting in and out of sleep for hours. She knew it was a
secret thing, only for one night, but she could not help but imagine herself in
Irial's place- free to throw her arms around that shapely torso and kiss that
handsome mouth...
"Carver."
The voice was not loud, but it seemed to crack like a bullwhip. Antimony looked
up somewhat suddenly, and she heard a few giggles. Everyone was looking at her,
including the teacher.
"I understand if you find statistics a little dry, but please pay attention."
She glanced down at the drawing, seeing it for the first time, and felt her
face burn in embarrassment. Kamlen's smile stared back up at her, every line of
his disarming smile captured perfectly. She hastily put it away in her bag.
"Sorry sir."
===============================================================================
Reynardine looked up at the clock. It was almost time for the rest of the
students to get back, and the girls would be meeting up here at five to have
their movie night. Time to be gone. He curled his plushy hand around the
bookmark, and slid it back into its place between the pages of the book he had
been reading. Then he hopped off the table and transformed himself into a wolf.
The halls were empty, for which he was thankful, and soon he had slipped down a
side corridor, jumping up to turn the door handle with his teeth. He had taken
it many times now, and he would take it many times in the future- until he had
left the Court or until he was no longer welcome at Jim's for a drink and a
long talk about old times.
===============================================================================
More and more, Antimony was convinced that movie night was one of the only
things keeping her sane. It had been a long week, worrying about grades and
fighting off relentless daydreaming at the same time. It felt like she couldn't
win. She found herself genuinely happy at the fact that Paz had joined them
again tonight. The atmosphere was much friendlier than last time, and the
achewater certainly helped a bit. Only the barest of slivers now wet the bottom
of the bottle, the rest had been consumed. They all laughed, booed, gasped and
speculated together, and it was wonderful.
===============================================================================
They had made a nest of blankets on the floor and rested their heads against
the foot of the sofa. Kat was not saying anything at the moment, simply staring
up at the ceiling and watching the bulkhead lean back and forth as though they
were a ship at sea. She understood now why Mr. Eglamore and her dad acted so
silly the times they sat drinking after dinner, and why her mother would shoo
her off to bed early. Paz was whispering something in Annie's ear and both of
them were blushing and giggling furiously.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just telling her about Sareed's hospitality." Paz said. She was wearing
a grin that Kat had seen only a few times before.
Kat was a little flustered, and not just from the drink.
"You told her-?" She said, apprehensively.
"Yes, she did." Annie said.
She too was wearing an expression Kat had never seen... never, except for a few
nights ago, pressed against Kamlen. She felt a hand run over her leg softly- a
familiar sensation, except this time it was not Paz doing the hanky panky. She
looked down at the hand as it wandered over her thigh, stroking it gently.
Wherever it touched, Kat felt her skin suddenly grow warm, as though Annie's
fingers were on fire. She looked up into her friend's eyes, which were much
closer than last she had seen them. Paz was watching them, still wearing that
guilty grin.
"I- I don't know Annie..." Kat found herself saying.
She had never noticed how shockingly blue those eyes were... She felt like her
words were swallowed up by them as Annie scooted closer. Kat had always
harbored a bit of jealousy towards her friend. Antimony was so effortlessly
feminine, with her hair and her makeup, and Kat was not. These thoughts were
silently snipped into little ribbons and blown away as Antimony did the
unthinkable. Their lips locked together, and Kat had no choice but to give in
to the pure sensation of the experience, although she could never entirely
forget who it was she was kissing- whose hands were caressing the back of her
head.
Kat had felt Antimony's body before. When you were sharing a crowded lab table
you couldn't help but bump elbows. Sometimes Antimony would hold something
teasingly out of reach and Kat would wrestle playfully with her to get it back.
But this... this was another ball game entirely.
They broke apart, and Antimony's hands were moving with purpose now, pulling
Kat's Vault Tech shirt over her head and tossing it aside, stopping only to
allow Paz to pull her sweater over her head. Kat reached out with fumbling
fingers and began to unbutton her friend's dress shirt. Somewhere off in the
mists of her peripheral vision, Paz was undoing hers as well. Then it came
away, and their eyes met again. They both laughed nervously, and Paz scooted up
behind Antimony, her clever little fingers quickly undoing Antimony's bra. Paz
leaned forward and stole a kiss, and then Kat kissed Antimony again, because
why not? The time for thinking was past. She let instinct guide her now, which
was not hard as the feeling of Antimony's bare torso touching hers was causing
some kind wild chain-reaction in her brain. Common sense, judgement and all the
rest of those high-minded ideals were rapidly fading, and a great, throbbing
need was taking hold. She had never known it was possible to feel like this,
but now that it was happening she found she rather liked it.
She felt Antimony's hand pull down the hem of her pajamas and begin to rub her
vigorously. She returned the favor, pulling up Antimony's skirt. Paz helped her
dispense with the panties, laying bare a pale mound with a little patch of
reddish fuzz lying just above it. Kat ran her fingers through it, her heart
beating a double-time in her chest. Everything in her head was screaming that
this was wrong, but it felt so good... how could she not? Paz interjected
herself here, gently pulling Kat's fingers aside. Then she did something that
Kat was not expecting. She stuck out her tongue... and licked Annie. Annie
gasped, and Paz did it again, eliciting a similar reaction. The she opened her
mouth wide and pushed her face further in. Antimony closed her eyes and moaned,
and Kat felt a slight poking sensation as her friend dipped a finger inside her
and began to move it vigorously. A warm sensation was collecting at her hips, a
tightly packed ball of energy that grew and grew until it shot out into every
extremity of her body, causing her to shake. Antimony climaxed a moment later,
soaking Paz's nose and cheeks.
The fun continued on after that, long into the wee hours of the morning, until
they were utterly exhausted, reduced to a tangle of slim young bodies, kissing
and rubbing against one another, reveling in the wonderful sensations and the
complete freedom the achewater provided.
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