Trust in Oneself, Draft 1, CH 17 (Patreon)

Paul winced at the brightness as he came awake. “Turn down the spotlight,” he mumbled, putting a hand up to provide shade.

“You’re going to have to wait a few hours,” Donal replied.

“More than a few,” Grant said, “this is Iceland in the summer. The sun’s up for a long while.”

Paul sat and looked for threats. The last thing he remembered was the fighting. No, they’d been captured, and the vole had been about to put a bullet in the kangaroo’s head.

“How?” he asked, looking at the grove they were seated in. A fire was going in the center, but in no way did that account for the warmth. Or how dry he was. He’d been hit by water. He should be freezing in dripping clothes. His shirt wasn’t even damp and his pants…

He sighed. “Thomas, where are my pants?”

“Here,” the rat replied, raising them. “I had to take them off to make sure you weren’t injured when Wassa threw you around with the rest of us.”

“Can I get them back?”

That Thomas hesitated told Paul that whatever was going on with his best friend was still there, but at least he wasn’t so far gone as to take advantage of him while he was unconscious. He’d be feeling it if he had been topped by the rat.

“Come on, I’m not like you, going around naked in front of strangers.”

“That hasn’t happened,” Thomas protested, “that much,” he added at the looks everyone other than the seal gave him. Thomas had taken to the Society as if he’d been born to it, sex as often as he could and clothing as little as possible. Only Roland was more into it, and Thomas’s brother has the excuse of multiple remembered versions of a life where that was how he’d been raised.

The rat threw them at him, and Paul put them on before joining the others by the fire.

“Ma’am,” Paul greeted her, “I’m guessing we have you to thank for no longer being prisoners of the Chamber.” As soon as the words were out, Paul felt stupid. What were the odds a woman who had been buried in ice for centuries understood him?

“I am indeed the one responsible,” the seal answered in a slightly stilted and formal English. Paul stared and noticed the phone hanging around her neck with copper wires taped to it along with pages from a dictionary? He peered. An English to Icelandic one.

That it was his phone they’d used surprised him more than whatever else had been involved. What did copper wire have to do with communicating?

“It’s the only one not used for something else,” Grant said. “Don’t worry, no permanent modifications.”

Paul nodded. “I’m guessing you weren’t expecting a living Practitioner when you started on this quest.” He wondered what her staff was. It had to be the dress, since it was all he could see. It was certainly less garish than the coat of many colors.

“Can’t say that I was.”

“How did we end up outside? And where’s the Chamber?”

“Wassa is responsible for both,” the kangaroo answered, “but further explanations will have to way, there are more important things I have to discuss with her.” He focused on her and lowered his voice. Not enough Paul couldn’t listen to the conversation if he wanted to, but it was an indication they expected some privacy.

And he had someone to check in on.

He moved closer to Thomas. “What happened? Why are we still here and not… at anyone of your landing zones?”

Thomas raised his hand and one half of a set of handcuffs was around his wrist. Paul raised his. Thomas’s was silvery, while his steel gray.

“It’s keeping me from teleporting,” Thomas said. “Handcuffs, so something around the concept of not escaping. Grand said he can take it off, but he wants to have that talk before we go anywhere.”

“You think the woman who put this on me though I was you?”

Thomas looked Paul over with a smile, which quickly turned lewd. “Trust me, no one would confuse a hot body like yours for mine.”

“Settle down, Thomas,” Paul said preemptively. “We aren’t alone.”

The rat leaned in closer and whispered. “They are kind of busy.” He placed a hand on the inside of Paul’s thigh. “I doubt they’d notice.”

The golden tiger chuckled. “They’d notice. How exactly did Wassa get us out, do you know?”

“You should have seen her,” Thomas said. “She’s really on the ball for a lady that’s been frozen in water for over six hundred years. Anyone openly aggressive, she just washed away. She said they might reach the ocean with enough time. Anyone unconscious she immobilized, and those of us who were prisoners, she questions. Well, the questions had to wait until Grant managed a translation talisman.”

“My phone.”

“That’s the second version. The first was Donal’s translation dictionary, copper wires, and broken glasses. It didn’t work well, because she doesn’t speak Icelandic, but he was able to get enough across to explain you were with us, and the Chamber. Then the rest joined them on their merry trip to the ocean. He borrowed your phone once she dried it, along with you. Electronics are his least favorite things to work with, but access to the internet comes with so many concepts he can tap into the used it so they could keep talking. That’s about when you woke up.” Thomas leaned in and Paul readied himself to tell him to stop. “If you ask me, she has the hot for Grant. She can’t stop watching him. It’s like she’s been waiting for him for always.”

Paul opened his mouth to ask…something, but Thomas nibbling on his neck, chased everything away. When he turned to tell him to stop, Thomas kissed him, and Paul responded, their tongues mingling as they fall back.

He grabbed the rat’s ass as Paul rolled on his back, and he felt Thomas grin in the kiss. His shirt lifted as a hand sneaked under it and he gasped as Thomas pinched his nipple. Paul undid the tail strap and put his hand in the pants, getting a solid handful of furry ass.

He was so going to—

“Excuse me,” Grant interrupted.

“Come back in an hour,” Thomas said between panting. “We’re busy.”

They were busy, Paul realized, but it shouldn’t be with having sex. With effort, he pushed Thomas off him.

“Okay,” the golden tiger panted. “That settles it. I have to be Society. I’m not that needy normally.”

“When was the orgy?” Grant asked.

“What?” Paul had trouble working out the rest of the phrase.

“Even if we figure you’d get fully initiated with only one, it still takes thirteen guys to do it. You had one of those recently?” The kangaroo offered Paul his hand.

Paul took it and was on his feet. “Not since Sigma Theta Gamma.”

Grant patted his shoulder. “Then you’re you’ve just been too long without sex. Believe it or not, you don’t have to follow a sex-addicted god to really want sex.”

“Did you just insult a god?” Paul asked. “And what about Niel? He didn’t need thirteen guys.”

“No tigers among the Survivors,” Thomas said. “But there’s the Orrs.”

“Who are Society,” Grant said, “so still no dice. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out which faction you’re with when we have the time. Until then, you and Thomas can knock boots once we’re in Denver.”

“Knock boots?” Paul asked.

“Do the nasty, get busy, the horizontal—”

“I got the picture. I just didn’t think you used expressions like that.”

The kangaroo smiled. “What can I say? I’m a man of many talents.”

Paul looked at Thomas. “You never mentioned that side of him.”

The rat seemed to have trouble focusing on them until he shook himself. When he stood, he barely caught his pants in time to keep them from falling, and Paul thought that was sad.

“I’m going to need you to take this off.” Thomas offered Grant the cuffed wrist.

“Is Denver wise?” Paul asked. “The Chamber had stuff happening there when me and Donal left. Even with Shila bringing the sickness to a stop, I doubt they’ve all gone.”

“With me, Donal, and Wassa there,” Grant said, as he looked the cuff over. “We’ll be able to deal with anyone they send to the house before they’re within a hundred feet of it.” He took something from a pocket, did something to the cuff Paul didn’t see, and it came off.

“That’s it?” Thomas asked in surprise. “I could have done that myself.”

“I didn’t know there was no magical safety until I inspected it.” Grant took Paul’s wrist and looked at the cuff. “They’re made to keep Thomas locked in place, but it’s best to take yours off too, in case it keeps you from coming along. It would be a bitch to have to come back for you.” He inserted a small pry bar in the keyhole.

“You know,” Thomas said. “Maybe me and Paul should fuck now, with the sensory script. You know, just in case one of you accidentally stays behind. That way I can come back and—”

“No, Thomas. The Three of us are nowhere near your limit. Fuck, I doubt you’re even going to feel it when we appear in Denver.” With a click, the cuff opened, and the kangaroo pocketed it.

“Alright,” Thomas said, sounding most lucid. “Gather up close and take hold.”

Paul stepped to the rat and placed a hand on his shoulder. Thomas moved the arm around the golden tiger’s back and squeezed his ass.

“Kids,” Grant said with exasperation.

“You’re just jealous, old man,” Thomas replied.

“Of your lewd and obsessive sexual—”

* * * * *

“—desires? Absolutely—”

Paul went flying from the kangaroo’s shove just before the gunfire registered. He saw frenzied movement in the too crowded bedroom. There was another gunshot, and a hole appeared in the wall next to Paul. He dropped. He saw Thomas blink out and back in behind a bear, who then cried out in pain as he fell backward.

The other three were quickly taken down by Grant and Wassa, who, even without using water, was dangerous.

The door burst open, and a chimpanzee rushed in. “What is—”

Thomas slammed the lamp he’s picked up from the dresser into his stomach, then the side of the head and he dropped with the rest.

“That was the guy who had the brass knuckle staff,” Paul said, getting to his feet.

Grant looked at Donal.

“It’s in the mail,” the squirrel answered.

“Okay, this changes things,” the kangaroo said. “Donal, Wassa, we focus on materials. Thomas, Paul, tied these guys up, and please stay focused. Now is not the time to start fucking. If they’re in here, the Chamber has to have more outside. Thomas, we need somewhere safe for you to take us.”

“Argentine,” the rat answered, ripping the electrical cord off the lamp and using it to tie the chimpanzee’s hands. “The Medeiros aren’t going to let anyone storm their hotel.”

Paul ripped sheets into strips and they used them to bind the others. Once they were done, they offered to help carry supplies, but Grant and Donal already had shoulder bags filled with anything they thought they could use. Wassa had left them as she didn’t understand most of the concepts behind the items Donal had accumulated in the house.

They hurried through the house, not wanting to raise their voice and risk attracting the attention of whoever was outside. They had already been lucky enough the gunshots hadn’t brought anyone running in.

They sound the seal in the living room, looking at her reflection on the screen on the wall.

Grant opened his mouth, but a knock at the door froze him silent.

Paul looked at the windows. The curtains were closed and heavy. The Chamber outside could see them.

Wassa looked at them, then at the door.

Grant shook his head emphatically, mouthing what Paul thought “it’s bad,” at her, but she ignored him. Thomas appeared behind her, but his arms when through her as if she was made of water.

She opened the door, and the cheetah in the suit standing on the other side looked at her, then around her as Grant, Donal, Thomas, and Paul.

He gave a satisfied nod. “Good, you’re all here. Now,” he said, his tone hardening. “Will one of you tell me why the Fuck He’s been filling my dream with the four of you for the last week?”