SPAM;

[anewlanguage]

[Forward dated to the Truth Event]

[THE WHOLE BARGE]

[Cain patrols, half out of anxious habit and half because he enjoys the routine. But it puts him in the halls, the Warden-only areas, the deck, the library, the art room. Feel free to chat; he has no idea he's under the influence of the Barge.]

[THE GYM]

[But he spends most of his time here, practicing and training, and lately taking on new students. This is where you're most likely to find him.]

Comments

[Saturday morning. Spam]

[anewlanguage]

Better with you. It's how I want it.

[Once, the only companion Cain could conceive of was one he literally created and shaped himself. Admitting to Iris that he wants her with him, all her unpredictability and joie de vivre as well, is the first time he realizes that he has truly changed here.]

[Saturday morning. Spam]

[routemistress]

[Her hands remain steady, working deep into his muscles with their deceptive cool strength. The sharply giddy thrill of joy is only in her mind and hearts, but it flashes into perception through her touch like champagne and fireworks blooming in a velvet night.]

Mmm. It's going to be brilliant.

[Spam]

[anewlanguage]

For the sake of crystal clarity, I think you'd better tell me how you define 'brilliant'.

[He half-mumbles, half-purrs, certain that whatever she says will be worth chasing after.]

[Spam]

[routemistress]

[She laughs again, deep and soft and fiercely contented.]

Everything. I want to put you in a tuxedo and dance at Ambassadors' balls. I want to get in barfights in every 'ive of scum and villainy between 'ere and the Catan Nebula. I want to ride 'orses across uncharted deserts and pull off bank jobs and rescue orphans and tilt 'istory and freelance for Babs in Gotham and drive through the stars and ...There were never going to be enough time. There weren't the first time. We 'ad so much fun; we did so much and every second I felt you slipping out of me 'ands like sand.

I'm a selfish greedy woman. Brilliant is what we already 'ave. I just want more of it.

[Spam]

[anewlanguage]

[It's a magnificent thing about Iris, that every moment with her is emotionally kaleidoscopic. The anticipation of the things she describes tumbles with the fierce pride and joy of being able to do them; and they crash against the grief he feels for the pain she would feel if he died.

It's that grief, perhaps even more than his desire to race to the far planets, that made up his mind.]

I'll give you all I've got. And thanks to you, it looks to be like a hell of a lot, darlin'.

[Spam]

[routemistress]

[It's a magnificent thing about Cain that he can take it. Iris' mercurial intensity has scared off so many people in her life that she's still often painfully gunshy.

It's been easing, lately; she feels safe with him, assured more than ever since seeing that potential future that they work. That she's neither deceiving herself out of wishful thinking nor promising more than she's capable of giving.

She digs her thumbs into the pressure points either side of the base of his spine, and bends her head to drop a kiss on the nape of his neck.]

It always were an 'ell of a lot. I'm just finding you more time to stretch it out in, love.