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Post By Visionary Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 07:34:26 pm EDT |
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Second thoughts | |
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| (Note: This story takes place following the events of Untold Tales #160) “Ugh…Him again.” Kerry Shepherdson grumbled, stirring her milkshake as Visionary happily popped into the Bean & Donut coffee bar. As this was the usual course of conversation when he went to pick up his young charge after a weekend with her older sister, it didn’t much faze him. Besides, he was in an especially chipper mood this morning. “Good to see you too, kiddo” he replied amicably, plucking a daffodil from the bouquet he carried with him and presenting it to her. She took it disdainfully between two fingers. “I swear,” she continued, “out of everybody not-fake in the city, why did you have to leave me with this loser? That has to be some kind of social services violation… I mean, my social life feels completely violated.” “I’ve told you a million times” Sarah said, wiping down the counter opposite the sullen teenager. “One, Visionary is not a loser, but rather a nice, stable and responsible man who will do a good job watching out for you and seeing that you’re not as violated as you’d like to be. And two, the offer the sweat shops in Gothametropolis gave for you was simply too low to consider, and they weren’t willing to haggle.” She gave a quick welcoming smile to Vizh and gestured to an empty stool before heading down the bar to take someone’s order. “Easy for you to say, you’re not living in dorkus central.” Kerry muttered, absently plucking the petals off of the flower her legal guardian had given her. “And what are you so happy about?” she snapped. “What?” Visionary asked innocently, reaching across the counter to help himself to a cup of coffee. “It’s a beautiful day, and I get to have lunch with two charming and beautiful women.” The sugar packet he was shaking suddenly burst into flames, but he nonchalantly dropped it into his coffee and dipped his scorched fingers into a glass of ice water. “What’s not to be happy about?” he asked as he began fishing out the wrapper ashes with a spoon. Kerry’s scowl turned thoughtful. “Okay, now I *know* something is up…” She peered at him intently. “You’re all… I don’t know… satisfied with yourself. Oh my god…” she suddenly said with a hint of revulsion. “You got lucky, didn’t you?” “What?!” Visionary sputtered, shocked. “No… I… What? Who taught you… Now see here, young lady… I… Okay, I had a date.” he finally sighed. “But it was completely innocent… hardly anything happened.” “Hardly anything?” Kerry demanded. “Hardly? I thought your rule was it could progress to hand-holding only after the third date, pending a full background check and a physical by the NTU Medical Scanometer and Deli Slicer?” she noted sarcastically. She folded her arms across her chest. “And here you went and rode the wild moose with some cheap slut the moment I’m out of the house.” “Rode the…? Hey!” Visionary wasn’t sure what that meant, but he figured it wasn’t slang for some Canadian adventure sport. “She wasn’t a cheap slut!” “Oh, so how much did she cost?” Kerry pressed. “So that’s where the money goes. Now I suddenly see why I can’t have a measly $400 to buy that micro skirt and bustier outfit, or why the clerk down at Victoria’s Secret confiscated and chopped up all your credit cards. I swear, if it weren’t for my sister, I’d have no revealing underwear at all. All so you can get a Hugh Grant down in the Waterfront district every time I leave the house!” “Hugh? …What underwear? Wait, which credit c… I… you…” There was way too much information in that little outburst to know where to start. “She was not a hooker!” he finally managed, trying to keep to the subject at hand before his brain completely shut down. “She is a very dear friend and it was all very sweet!” Kerry was about to retort, but then a look of recognition flashed across her face, causing her to relax back into her seat. “Ooooh…” she said with a slight laugh. “The pity date. Well, why didn’t you say so?” “I did say so! Wait… I mean… It wasn’t a pity date!” Visionary growled, then paused. “Um… what did you mean, the pity date?” Kerry shrugged and stirred her milkshake again. “Lisa and Yo and others have all been talking about how mopey you’ve been since…” she bit her lip and cast him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye. “Well, anyway… you’ve been down for a long while. They said it’s way past time someone got you out of the dork cave. Personally, I think it’s disgusting… especially if it went so far as boinking…” She glanced up at him. “So who was it? Oh god… tell me it wasn’t Yo. No, you know what? Don’t tell me at all… I don’t want to have to face her with the mental image of… Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!” Sarah returned to their end of the lunch counter to find Visionary both confused and angry with his mouth open waiting for his brain to find something to say. “So, what’s up?” she asked with a smile. “The sex fiend you’ve left me with has ruined my appetite for the next 6 years” Kerry said with a shudder. “Seriously, the severed finger in your shower was less creepy. Gimme the keys so I can get my stuff.” Sarah handed over the keys to the upstairs apartment and watched her shuddering little sister flee. “What was that all about?” “I never know.” Visionary observed moodily. “Apparently, I need to cancel another set of credit cards. And for that matter, just what kind of revealing underwear do you… er…” Visionary quickly thought better of asking that particular question. “Um… Actually I wanted your opinion on something else. Have… Have you ever dated a coworker?” The waitress blinked. “You mean Mr. Papadopopolis?” “Not… exactly.” Visionary said, trying to avoid a disturbing mental image himself. “I meant in general.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t have a lot of experience in the area… I don’t know what you’ve heard…” she looked at him pointedly. “But I have a general policy against it. It rarely works out, and then you have to face that awkward moment where you’re exchanging underwear you left behind in the breakroom. I mean, the exchange is in the break room… Not the leaving of underwear, because that would be unhygienic even in France, and a miss-use of restaurant time and property and I don’t know why you’d even think I’d ever be involved in any such things. In fact, why are you asking me this?” “Just wondering… ah… for a friend.” Visionary chewed over this opinion for a moment. “Do you know anything about pity dates?” Sarah raised an eyebrow. “For a friend” he restated lamely. She shrugged. “Well, I suppose I have to admit to having gone on a few in my time. Not that my time has been especially long, or that I’ve been on an extreme number of dates with many, many different men, mind you. Because I haven’t. Mostly I spend my nights doing charity work while washing my hair.” “Naturally.” Visionary observed neutrally. “So, um… pity dates?” “Oh, right. Well, you basically go on one when you like a guy and you don’t want to see him get hurt, but at the same time you have absolutely no interest in him romantically.” “But… sometimes, is it possible… I mean, could someone get actual romantic feelings if the date went well enough?” “Honestly? Not likely… Usually it’s a friend you’re dating just to get their confidence up, and there’s zero sexual excitement involved. Which doesn’t necessarily rule out pity sex… which is complete charity, and should be deductible on your taxes as such. Not that I’ve ever done that. Because my charity work involves teaching poor, starving street urchins how to read. Poor, wretched, starving street urchins. Why are you asking me this again?” “No reason” Visionary answered, looking into his ash-filled coffee. He glanced up as Kerry came back from upstairs. “Let’s go” she said. “I need to use a shower that hasn’t been sprouting bloody body parts, thank you very much… unless that’s where you’ve been… doing it. In which case drop me off by spiffy’s and I’ll shower with him.” “Body parts?” the weary Regular asked, grasping for any semblance of understanding about this whole morning while mentally planning on ordering a reliable military grade defoliant. “Whose body parts?” “Hmmm? Oh… I was telling her about the time Mr. Epitome found my…er, that is, Dancer’s severed finger in my shower drain, complete with wedding ring.” Kerry snorted. “Sure, trust him with your innocent and defenseless sister, just not your secret iden…” “Shut up Kerry” Dancer said pleasantly, stuffing a donut into the teenager’s mouth. Visionary blinked. “Dancer got married?” he asked, finding this more surprising then her apparent partial dismemberment (or even Sarah having Mr. Epitome in her shower). In truth, there was something odd about Dancer … a sort of buzz of recognition he could never quite place. And he’d swear she treated him like they shared some secret he wasn’t in on. “It was from an alternate reality…” Sarah explained. “…where that Dancer was a psychotic, and incidentally married, megalomaniac. And her ass was much bigger than mine.” Following the train of thought from the mysterious connection they shared, Visionary arrived at an unexpected depot. “Dancer’s alternate husband… it wasn’t me, was it?” he blurted out. Kerry and Sarah both stared at him like he had suddenly sprouted an extra head. Visionary, reviewing what he had just said, fervently wished he had thought to do that instead. His ward sputtered into a full-blown laugh, spraying her legal guardian with donut bits. “Ha! You! And Dancer!” she howled, tears coming to her eyes. “Dancer… and you!” “Um… that’s an… interesting theory there, Vizh…” Sarah allowed with the hint of a smile. “You! And Dancer! And You!” choked the teenager again. “Yeah, ‘cause you’re so her type! You’re so like the many, many, many guys she’s…” “Shut up, Kerry.” Sarah suggested tersely, as a housefly happily yet improbably swerved directly into the teenager’s mouth, making her gag dramatically. “Why don’t you go wait in Vizh’s car?” With a retching cough, Kerry managed to spit out the still happily buzzing fly. “Oh lord… this has been the grossest morning ever. I swear, you two are going to be hearing from social services about this…” she muttered as she left. “Not to mention the car fire on 48th street.” “Um…” Visionary finally said when it was just the two of them. “Maybe it would be best if we just forgot what I asked.” he suggested hopefully, still red in the face. “No reason to mention this to Dancer, right? Please?” “I think I might know what this is about…” Sarah suggested, nodding towards the bouquet of daffodils the Regular had sitting on the counter beside him. “Who are those for?” “Hmmm?” Visionary answered, happy to change the subject. “Oh… Just… someone special. Though now I’m not sure it’s such a good idea.” “This has to do with the coworker and pity date questions, doesn’t it?” “Sort of” he squirmed. “I mean, I hope not… I just…” “Look, Vizh…” Sarah began. “When you work with somebody for a while…especially in the kinds of situations you face in the Legion… well, it’s not exactly improbable that some… feelings might crop up among teammates.” “Am I that obvious?” Visionary asked dejectedly. “I mean, just a little while ago the idea of… I mean, it would never have occurred to me… She’s always been a close friend, and there’s been a comfort and warmth about her that makes me enjoy her company. And I’ve always known that she’s brilliant, and charming, and stunningly beautiful…” Sarah smiled at the compliment. “But you weren’t available then, and so those traits didn’t quite register the same way.” “Yeah” Visionary sighed. “And then, suddenly it seemed like a possibility… and a whole new way of looking at her came to mind… and I guess I’ve not yet figured out what I want, let alone what she wants… I think I may have assumed too much on that point.” “Well, I know her pretty well…” Sarah said without a trace of irony. “And I know that she values you… and your friendship… more than you might imagine. Workplace romances almost never work out. I… I just want you prepared to accept the fact that she might not want to risk that comfort and warmth you feel around her. Sometimes, an old friend is worth a lot more than a new lover.” Visionary nodded to himself, then smiled sadly at her. “You’re probably right… I guess, with the idea… I likely got a little carried away. Thanks Sarah… I’m glad I talked to you first. Who knows what kind of mess I might have made of things?” She smiled back at him warmly as he paid his check and left a large tip, as well as a daffodil. “I’m glad I could help. If it’s any consolation, I know that she enjoys your company and feels that warmth as well… and she wants you to be happy, and knows that there’s special someone out there for you.” Visionary paused at the door. “Yeah… I just thought…” he shrugged and left it hanging, then smiled warmly in remembrance. “It’s just… That really was some kiss.” He waved goodbye and was gone. A sinking feeling hit the pit of Dancer’s stomach as she stared at the empty doorway. “Kiss?” Epilogue: “Why Vizh! They’re lovely!” Hallie gasped with pleasure as the regular produced the batch of daffodils. They seemed completely out of place among the massive mainframes of the bunker where the sentient computer program kept the data of her virtual world. “They used to be lovelier” Visionary hurried to explain. “But Kerry’s in a rather foul mood, and I didn’t even notice she had gotten the Pinto’s cigarette lighter working again.” He viewed the somewhat wilted flowers critically. “Maybe the singed petals can be arranged towards the back, somehow.” “They’re wonderful.” Hallie argued. “Nobody has ever brought me flowers before.” The possibly fake man looked around the sensitive computer components that surrounded them. “Um… that’s probably because everyone else would have realized that you don’t have a vase.” He smiled at her apologetically. “I just wanted to thank you… For last night. I had a wonderful time, and you made me feel better about myself than I have in a long, long time.” Visionary would swear the holographic woman in front of him grew at least two shades brighter. “I’m so relieved! I was hoping you’d feel that way. I admit… I was worried what you would think in the light of dawn…” “Well… I was a little confused” he replied. “But after getting some good advice this morning, I remembered that what I thought was that you were a wonderful, compassionate woman, and one of my best friends in the world… one that I’m incredibly lucky to have… and that’s something that I shouldn’t take lightly, or be in a hurry to change.” Her form flickered slightly, but the warm smile remained fixed on her face. “I… understand. I thought about that a lot myself… I didn’t want to make things awkward between us. But then I heard Lisa and Yo talking about how lonely you were, and how you needed to get out, and I thought…” “You were right.” Visionary answered, not letting his disappointment over this confirmation show. “I didn’t realize how much I needed that night out. It was very kind of you… You’re a great friend.” “You too.” She replied. “A great friend.” He hugged her affectionately, inhaling subconsciously as he did so. All he smelled was the faint aroma of burnt flowers. They parted with an awkward hesitation. “Well, I should probably get these digitized before they wilt.” Hallie noted. Visionary nodded. “I’ll be late for class if I don’t hurry. Last time I missed the beginning bell, I arrived to find Harlegaz had tied spiffy to the ceiling fan. It left a circle of fern stains that took forever to come out.” He paused at the door. “Hey… I’m having a movie night this Friday… Yo and Sarah and the whole gang will be there… can you make it?” “Wouldn’t miss it” Hallie promised. “Good” Visionary replied with a bittersweet smile. “I… wouldn’t have it any other way.” |
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