Rainy Days
The next morning dawned cloudy and rainy, and the day morphed into a movie day for Ari, and a ‘tucker down and write’ day for her mother. Her mother was just over halfway with her current project and the words were flowing so easily from her that it was almost impossible to tell that it was a human, and not the computer, typing the words that appeared on the screen.
Arkonel decided that he would show up when the weather cleared a bit, perhaps have his ‘grandmother’ drop him off. A tricky illusion to pull off, but one he could probably do, if he managed to make sure that Ari was in the kitchen when he did. He would have to get his human body wet a little bit, but he didn’t mind. He had actually enjoyed the pizza he had been forced to eat the night before, and he figured that perhaps rain would yield a different, but still pleasant sensation.
Arkonel waited until Ari had gone into the kitchen for lunch to materialize at her doorway, wet his hair in the rain, and ring the doorbell. He had been having fun watching the movie that Ari had been watching. He had been unable to catch the name of it, but it was a comedic movie with plenty of action.
“I was starting to wonder if you were going to appear today.” Ari said as she opened the door and ushered him in.
“Well, you know. Its not like I had anything better to do than walk a mile or two through the rain to get here.” Arkonel said, shaking his long, wet hair at her.
“You walked?!” Ari asked, astounded, and Arkonel remembered that the distance was a little far to walk, had he actually walked it.
“No, I was just joking. My grandmother dropped me off here, she was on her way to town. Otherwise you probably wouldn’t have seen me today.” Arkonel amended his story.
“Well, doesn’t she have an extra umbrella or something? You still managed to get soaked.” Ari said, glancing down his entire body. She rose her eyes to meet his own, watching her with an amused interest.
“She’s going to shop in town, remember? She lives alone. She only has one, and I wasn’t about to take it from her. Its just a little rain.” Arkonel spoke the sense that Ari hadn’t yet realized.
“Right. I’m just watching movies. We have games if you want to play, but we can’t exactly do much today, with the rain.”
“You want to play games with me?” Arkonel asked her, laughing a little. “What are we, five?”
“Got anything better to do, Einstein?” Ari asked him.
“Well, does the barn leak?” He asked her.
“I’m not sure. I’m sure it does, somewhere.”
“I don’t know.” Arkonel said, using his other sight to make sure his guess was accurate. “I think the roof is decently new, and its perfectly dry out there.”
“So we could work today, as long as it was inside.” Ari said, realizing what he was suggesting. “We could always make a trip up to the store and buy some picture frames for the newspapers we found.”
“Well, and this is just a suggestion, why don’t we go out there and see exactly what we could do for an ‘indoor’ day, and then go to collect the materials. That way, we can work all day, and not have to run back into town to get more materials.” Arkonel suggested. He really had forgotten about his mission – to keep her company, and protect her and her mother – and was more focused on the higher value of it all – keeping his newfound friend happy, and learning with her. He had never actually done a lick of ‘real’ physical work in his life, and as mundane as it was, he was looking forward to it.
“Wow, you ever done this before?” Ari asked him as she pulled the door to the back yard open. “You sound so sure of yourself.”
“Well, no. I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life, but I’ve never renovated a barn into an adoption center and historical museum. Most of the history I hear about is with Greece and Olympus, if you know what I mean.”
“You really are an expert on those. I’m learning stuff every day. Its almost like you know the gods personally.” Ari said, her feet squelching in the mud as she walked out to the barn. It had been raining steadily all night, and she was beginning to regret the idea of going out to the barn, if only because she was going to end up dirty before they even started working.
“Well, you know. I have some good sources.” Ark said, attempting not to lie. He did have very good sources – his mother, his father, and his hundreds of brothers and sisters. Speaking of siblings, he was surprised one hadn’t tried to interfere with him yet. If Cadmus knew about the possible god title, then everyone in Olympus had to.
“Your family?” Ari asked as she examined the barn’s interior, surprised. “Wow, you were right, yet again. No leaks.”
“Yeah, my family.” Arkonel agreed. “So, you’re the boss from here on out. What do you want to do?”
“I’m not sure. I really want to preserve those papers, and I want to maybe organize all of this clutter. I’m sure it can all end up staying, except maybe that pile…” Ari pointed to a pile that they had created yesterday. It had all of the items that had come after her great aunt had closed the animal shelter. Roof shingles, discarded house appliances – irons, ironing boards, blenders, mixers, a set of silverware, plastic silverware, cups and plates, can openers…
“That silverware – the real ones – look like actual silver, to me.” Arkonel repeated the same thing he had said the day before. “I bet it will clean right up if we polish it, and then you could either use it or sell it or hang it or find some use for it.”
“I know. We have to get all of the electronics into the house when the rain stops to see if they work. If they do, we can probably hold a garage sale with them and make a little bit of money to buy supplies with. That way, we can save on costs a little.”
“How are you guys surviving if your mother isn’t working full time?” Arkonel asked, daring her to reveal a little more of herself than she had before.
“My father didn’t leave us – he died in a car accident when I was six. The life insurance policy kept us well taken care of for the time we were struggling, and then my mom quit her vet job to become a full writer. My mom’s a pretty famous author now, and her royalty checks keep our day-to-day expenses covered. When my great aunt died, she left us this house with enough money to cover our taxes for the next few years. Mom invested what was left of the insurance money, and adds whatever we don’t need of the royalty checks; its like one big mutual fund that keeps returning very well.” Ari explained as she walked through the barn to the back to examine the two stables that still smelled faintly of horse, although not horse manure.
“Wow. That’s one hell of a story.” Arkonel said. Ari had just filled in some of the blanks for him.
“Well, you know. It hasn’t been easy for either of us. My mom loved my dad so much, and so did I. It was hard with him gone, but we made it, and mom decided if she lost the person she loved, she was at least going to do what she loved, so she quit her job and went to writing. We’ve had a few good turns of luck, and here we are now.”
“A secluded writer and her single daughter in a backwoods town of New York?” Arkonel asked, laughing.
“Exactly.”
“So…shall we get our hands dirty?” Arkonel asked her, eyebrows raised.
“Yes, I think we shall.” Ari turned from him and began sorting through the objects in front of her.
Arkonel stood on the front porch. Like almost every other night that he had been assigned to her, he stood waiting for her to say goodbye.
“Are you coming back tomorrow?” She asked him. The lights on in the kitchen were the only lights left on anywhere that she could see. It was well past eleven, and they had worked until eight or nine, then snacked on pizza and watched television until they realized what time it was.
“Well, about that.” Arkonel started, watching her face fall like she had been turned down. “I have some things I have to do tomorrow afternoon, but in the evening, I would be glad to go out and spend another night on the town.”
“What do you have to do tomorrow?” Ari asked him, and he shrugged, thinking on the fly.
“Wake up, eat, shower…then I have to help Grandma sort through some things. She has an eye appointment she wants me to drive her home from; I have to make her dinner…”
“You cook?” Ari asked, surprised. A big ‘oops’ on Arkonel’s part – he had never prepared mortal food in his life.
“At least once a week, every week, just for her.” He said smoothly, making a note to remember that tiny detail when he attempted to actually cook something for Ari. If he did.
“That’s adorable.” Ari concluded, and Arkonel shook his head, disagreeing with her.
“No, its mandatory. You can’t get by in my family without learning to cook.” By cook, he meant…no, that was an outright lie. “And its fine with grandma to let me cook once in a while; otherwise she has to. What with the arthritis and other aches and pains, its all I can do for her.” Arkonel was really pushing it with his story. It was getting a little too complicated for him to maintain, and he was going to screw up sooner or later.
“Whatever you say. So…tomorrow night?”
“Yes. There’s a club in town, alcohol free. Its called… O2? They do roller skating parties. Ever roller skated?”
“Once or twice. Are you any good?” She asked.
“I’ve never been on any rolling or bladed skate in my life.” Arkonel admitted. He always assumed that he was lucky enough to survive his parents’ wrath without turning mortal and ice skating, dropping into some pond and ‘disappearing’, scaring the residents and causing a general uproar. Or if he was startled, turned invisible, and transferred through the wall. Either could cause an uproar now, too. Roller skating wasn’t the best idea, but it was all that he could come up with at the time. He wanted to give Ari a break from him.
“So I get to teach you?” Ari interrupted his thoughts with a smile. He nodded.
“Yup. Seems I’ll be having quite a few firsts with you.” Arkonel said, not realizing the double meaning of that statement, at first. Not that she would be his first. Not that he was going to sleep with her. And definitely not in this form. When – no, if – he was going to sleep with her, he was going to do it in his natural form. Not that she was going to find out that he was an immortal.
“Oh, really?”
“Well, like renovating your barn out there. I’ve never fixed anything up. Most of my dealings in this world have been with people, only.” Arkonel stumbled over what he was attempting to say.
“So you were sheltered except for your family?” Ari translated what he said into her own meaning. “I’m going to assume you meant that, and not that you’re some alien who has just appeared here.”
“No, not an alien.” Arkonel agreed, suffocating the urge to say ‘If only you knew’.
“How many women?” She asked him, and he looked up, startled. His human eyes could only see amusement dancing through her eyes, and his immortal set revealed the same.
“I’m not sure what you mean.” He said smoothly, smiling. He took her hand into his, indicating that it was about time for them to end the night.
“How many non-familial women have you been with?” She asked.
“A few? What do you mean ‘been with’?” Arkonel was closely monitoring her true emotions. A little jealous, but nothing to worry about.
“You know. You just said you were sheltered. I was wondering how many non-family females you’ve met, dated, and otherwise spent time with.”
“I was sheltered, sure, but only from doing stupid things like signing my life over to a wheeled shoe. I was in public schools, the whole line.”
“So I won’t be your first?” Ari asked him, choking back a laugh. Arkonel double checked her emotional status and found that she was having fun, drilling him.
“Um, I plead the fifth on that one.” Arkonel took the easy way out. “I have to go, though. I have a long day ahead of me.” Arkonel dropped her hand, and turned to walk away. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Ari.”
“Wait a second. I think you owe me a kiss.” Ari called after him.
“I don’t owe you anything.” Arkonel laughed and continued walking. Seconds later, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find Ari not two inches from his face.
“You want me.” She said quietly. He tried to back away, and she put her hand on the back of his neck. “I want you. You’re teasing me, and that’s fine. But you owe me, at least, a taste of your lips. Understand?” She asked, centimeters from his lips. God or not, Arkonel was definitely on the intimidated side. Arkonel nodded and closed the distance between them, brushing his lips against hers only briefly.
“Good night, Ari.” He said, removing her hand from his neck. “Sweet dreams.” He sidled out of her grip and walked as composed as he could to the end of her driveway until he rounded the corner. He turned to make sure she hadn’t followed him, and promptly disappeared.
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