Part 4: RubedoFrom the Personal Records of Aurum AlchimiaThe next morning, our house has a new resident. How odd.
”So, you’re running this house?” The woman says. When I confirm this, She introduces herself as
”The new Mrs. Darleen Dreamer! Ta-da!” She flashes her hand at me, revealing a large ring that is generally a part of matrimonial custom.
”Oh, I’m sorry. I’m bragging, right? I’m just really excited!”….Her energy is somewhat infectious; I find myself smiling before my brain fully catches up to the situation.
And Mrs. Darleen seems deeply pleased by her recent marriage. She sighs and swoons with the thought of her new husband.
I have never seen a husband and wife interact until this point… I am aware that, if I am not to be wed, then I am at least to acquire a father for my children (for some reason; I turned out just fine with only my father, and see no reason that a man need be involved in the production of my children), who is to live here… Maybe it will not be so bad.
Over breakfast, Jaycen waves a small paper envelope in my face.
”Great news! Sooomeone got an invite to Lina Lancaster’s summer shindig!”“…Shindig?”
”Well, you know? A party. I guess it’s a swimdig, for summer!” He laughs. I tilt my head until he sighs.
”…That was a pun. Anyway, I’m going!”“So you’ll be able to see Sheila!” Oh, he actually is following through with it. I thought…Perhaps…He might not.
”Exactly.”“Please report to me how it goes. I will be in my stu –“
“Wait just a second there, goldilocks.” He grabs my arm as I go.
”You’re always in your study. I don’t think I’ve seen you go outside – other than to buy that potion – once. Do you even know people?”“…I know you, and Darren, and Mrs. Darleen.”
”…People who don’t live here.”I fell silent.
”I am getting you out of the house. Meet people! Have fun! Get your swimsuit; you’re my Plus One today.”“I don’t have a swimsuit.”
”Then we’re getting you one! Leave it to me; you need outfits that don’t have welding cloves on them, anyway.”…Welding gloves are very practical.
”Besides, I’ll need someone to help run interference so Lina doesn’t see what we’re up to. Come on…For me?”He looks through our spare clothing options and smiles broadly, passing me pieces until he decides on the ‘ideal swimsuit’. I would like something more practical – perhaps a wetsuit.
I am… quite apprehensive. I have never attended a party before. Is this, too, a step towards purity? No, how could it be? It detracts from my studies. It will be a short venture. For Sheila.
As I decide this, we arrive, and get changed.
After some time spent admiring my new attire (I would like something with more modesty, but Jaycen pronounces it ‘stunning.’ I will have to test its usage against assailants, then.), Jaycen makes an immediate line to the true purpose behind our attendance: meeting Sheila.
”Hey there, little bug.” He lifts up his child for the first time, seeming to marvel for a moment of the almost limp, trusting weight of the baby.
”My name’s Jaycen. I’m…”This is still Miss Lina’s house, and she wants the relationship to go unacknowledged. He does not say it. I will offer my sympathies; this must be very hard for him.
”I’m on your side, kiddo.”
Not a moment later, the child is in tears. I do not think he knows what to do (neither do I)
”What do you want, Sheila? Jeeze, I showed up, I gave you a raspberry…What more do you need?...Maybe you’re hungry? Will this do it?”He finds a bottle and feeds Sheila.
”There we go, kiddo. There we are…Listen, I’m not always gonna be around, but…
Be careful. And when you grow up, if I can’t see you, remember: be careful with boys. They’ll break your heart. And don’t end up like your momma, either.”
He spends much of the afternoon with her, snuggling and playing with his daughter. The interactions he may have with her are brief…But when I watch them, I feel like he understands that they are precious.
”…I’ll try getting a guy I know to get you a crib, too.”I am, in the meanwhile, making friends: I have purchased vials of potions that will allow me to make friends with minimal interaction, and I use them with pleasure.
First up is Lina Lancaster, who to my surprise is not a harpy at all, but a woman…
They are surprised that I chucked pure friendship at them at first, but the released oxytocin in their systems makes them mind it much less. Second is Miss Yolanda Shaw, who decides to ask me to participate in a strange interaction known as “Pillow Fighting.”
I will conquer it.
Third up is miss Naomi, on whom I use a weaker concoction that produces a weaker bond.
Meanwhile….
”I need something to do…I guess photography’s a good hobby, right? Ok! I will photograph like a boss!” Or I am sure she would say something like that. Darleen purchases a camera, to my delight. Photographs for the museum will prove particularly splendid records.
”And here we go! All sorts of cute fruits. These even have little halos! How precious!”She has also purchased Life Fruit for Jaycen to plant. It is a splendid edition to my efforts.
Jaycen comes to me and tells me that he is glad I convinced him to do this…As glad as he is to have convinced me to wear this outfit – even if he’s surprised I went along with it.
“…I…I trust you.”
My surface temperate seems to have risen dramatically when I said this. I should not have gone out if I was going to be ill again.
We talk for a time like this, and then he asks me…
”About that heartbreak earlier…What’s the story there? Ex-boyfriend?...Ex-girlfriend?”…I did say I trusted
”Nothing….Nothing of the sort. I have never dated, or been in love.”
“All the same…My heart was broken that day.”
For a moment I hesitate. I do not want to pull anyone into my feelings. I do not want to shame myself with unnecessary displays. My father would not want me to cry, or to be pathetic like that. My father would want me to go through life with my head held high, like the perfect person he thought I was.
…But I trust Jaycen. And he…he trusts me. He took my advice. He did something perhaps he would not have done, because I asked it of him.
… So I tell him. I tell him about my father, and my creation. I tell him about the men in black. And the fire. I tell him that I worry that they might return for me.
”If you never saw him in the building, he may have gotten away, right? He might be alive.”
“…I…I believe that to be the case. I will just have to pray my efforts are successful…And that, in performing them, I can remain safe long enough to find him again.”
He looks at me then with such kind eyes, and brings a hand up to my face. There is something warm and wet running down it, which I realize only from the warmth of his hand against it.
”…It’s ok, Aurum. It’ll all be OK…”“I’m not crying. I am simply producing additional lubricating fluid from my tear ducts for the purposes of clearing my eyes.” These aren’t tears, these are simply a mixture of natural fluids that can be simulated via a saline solution. Certain hormones may also be included.
He takes me into his arms. I do not break into tears or blubber…But I do allow myself the moment, the protection of his embrace.
I am certainly feverish. This explains my unusual reactions. Still…
I’m a little happy, too. This is so foolish. I just finished recounting something. I am sad. I am sad and I am feverish. I should not also…be happy.
”Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you’re safe long enough to see. What have men in black got that can stand up to the man in white?”
And then he kisses me.
My normal manner of writing fails me. My normal manner of thinking cannot comprehend. In that moment, I became something other than what I was the moment before; a certain transmutation occurred I cannot comprehend. All my feelings went scattered across the floor, overflowing from their careful, marked containers. I wonder if there is, in some language I have never known, a word for what I felt then:
Einstein says that as something speeds up, its relative time slows down. For my heart, then, beating at a rate approaching the speed of light…That kiss may have lasted forever. My beating heart had all the time in the world to study his lips, his teeth, his tongue, his breath. Now that is has slowed down, however, it seems too short to contain everything in my mind. That happiness and that fear, intermingled with the sudden warmth of his lips. In that moment, relativity became wonderful…And also very sad.
I will have to study this reaction further.
