Chapter 10 Syncopation
Story by Khaesho Scorpent on SoFurry
I don't want to be a broken record about the pacing, but looking back, 3 pages just feels so short to be a chapter. Maybe it'll look longer once it's adjusted to book sized paper instead of letter? Likely be 6 pages then. I dunno. It feels right to me and that's literally all I have to go on at the moment. Not for the first time, I really wish I'd taken a creative writing elective in college.
I'm sure you realize that I wouldn't add a chapter exclusively about Dominic and then forget about him, and I'm glad I was able to power through and get to the point where he shows up again. I strongly considered having Khaesho toss the still-ringing phone at Shou, so that would be an excuse for why he woke up -and- maybe add to his irritation, but he wouldn't know what a phone was, and I couldn't think of a good way to address the topic without spoiling the tension of the scene. I have the next two chapters planned out, but I don't know if I'll be able to get to them today; I've been writing for 5 hours now, and my wrists are starting to cramp. Maybe. Who knows?
“Wait, you can’t leave!” She sprinted to the door, making it there in time to stop him from storming out of her apartment, just barely. “I, um” she wasn’t quite able to think of something fast enough to prevent his response.
“You what? Talked to the fork tongued serpent and he pretended to like you? He’s your friend now? He’s incapable of affection. Trust me, I’d know, now step aside.”
She stubbornly shook her head. “Not until you tell me where you’re going. I-” she swallowed. “I’m sorry if I upset you by asking about your past, I just wanted to know. I didn’t think-”
“Didn’t think you were sheltering a runaway murderer? Of course not. There’s a reason I was living in a cave, Shouyousei, but I really don’t have time for this. Step. Aside.”
“No.” She stared him down, five feet and change looking up into his eyes with staunch refusal. “I won’t let you abandon me like this. You can’t just waltz into my life and then vanish without a trace!”
“You think-” he was going to berate her for assuming this was about her, but he had to bite his tongue remembering exactly what he’d almost done in a drunken haze last night. At least Kalokin had talked him back into that bed. It was a fine bed, all things considered.
He looked down at her, still gripping Kalokin’s spark in his fist, before he sighed and tried to calm down. “Look. Shou. Kalokin and Nikolak are finicky. I don’t know how much he told you, but she needs him. Badly. And this rascal” He shook the wisp. “Has been separate from her for nearly twelve hours now. Which is bad. The longer they’re apart, the harder it is for them to link back up, and if they can’t resonate, things are going to go wrong for both of them very quickly. I need to find somewhere quiet so I can meditate and realign them before they get too far out of sync. Does that make sense?”
Uncertainty crossed Shou’s eyes. She looked towards Kalokin, who sent out a feeble, embarrassed pulse of affirmation, before looking back to Khaesho and stepping out of the doorway. “Can… can you promise me you’ll come back? It doesn’t have to be today if… if you need some time to yourself, but I want to see you again, even if only to give you a proper goodbye.”
The remaining anger drained from his body like the crest of a wave collapsing onto a beach, receding back into the ocean of his soul. It took him far too long to answer, and when he looked at her, something Kalokin had said clicked into place. ‘Quite a lot’s happened to him…’ There was more to his story. What else had he suffered?
“I promise. Once the Gemini is stable, I’ll come find you, and it won’t be to say goodbye.” He released Kalokin and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “I can’t promise when that will be though. Something’s gone terribly off, I’ve never seen Nikolak warp this much in this short a time span, and I can’t ask her what happened because she can’t resonate with Kalokin well enough to understand language at the moment, which is a bad sign.”
Shouyousei still looked uncertain, anxious, like she didn’t quite believe him. He didn’t blame her though, he hardly believed himself. She looked so… vulnerable, and for a moment, he recognized that exact face as one he’d worn once. So, he did the only thing he could think of, to convince the both of them. He leaned forwards, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her. It was soft, sweet, with none of the lust they’d shared the previous night, and without alcohol to cloud it.
His lips left hers far sooner than she’d wanted, but as Shou stared up into his gentle eyes, she felt a few shreds of hope. His voice was softer now, tender, and when he spoke, she believed him. “I promise I’ll come back for you, but right now, the Gemini needs me.”
Shou swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded, releasing him. He hesitated a moment more before turning and opening her door. When it closed behind him, she stayed, staring after him as if expecting him to reappear. It likely wasn’t more than a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity later that her phone jolted her from the reverie. She dashed to her bedside table to grab at it, absentmindedly noting that Khaesho had left some odd coin mixed in with her change as she checked the caller ID, then answered.
“Dominic! Hi, sorry I couldn’t return your calls yesterday, I was a bit tied up.” More than a little. Her day had both started and ended in ropes.
“Shouyousei! Thank- I mean, yeah, it’s fine.” For just a moment, he’d sounded oddly relieved to get a hold of her. “What kept you busy?”
What a question, one she certainly couldn’t answer honestly. Well, not completely. “I went hiking, took a sleeping bag up the south face. You know how cell signal gets patchy up there, and when I got home I was too tired to talk.” She abruptly realized exactly what day it was. “Ah shit we were going to have lunch yesterday.”
He laughed off her distress. “Don’t worry, I was trying to call you to tell you that I was out of town. Then I was trying to call because it’s not like you to not answer. I just got off my plane, you want to have lunch today since we both missed yesterday?”
She guiltily looked towards her kitchen. “Sorry Dom, I just had breakfast, been a lazy morning for me. I’d be happy to chat though, I don’t mind if you eat.”
“Great! I’ll be a good hour’s drive to get back up the mountains. Care to meet me at the Sodalak’s mountain inn?”
She chuckled. “What’s this? We’re not going to your favorite sandwich shop?”
“Eh, I feel like something different.”