Scene from VilCorp
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Tony was already passing out sugary drinks. Etain shuddered. She hated what too much sugar did to her. So, she passed and went and grabbed a cup of tea. She discovered teas in Asia a long time ago. Before most countries did. She adored tea. She loved coffee more, but tea settled something in her soul. She also grabbed a candy cane. She loved these things. She loved to suck them into a pointed tip. They came out in mass in the early nineteen hundreds. But since the sixteen hundreds candy makers had made sweet candy sticks. The pointed tip would be perfect to poke people when they annoyed her. She smirked as she took the candy cane out of her mouth and looked at the pointed tip, before poking Tony.
“Hey! Stop that!” Tony glared at her.
“No. It is fun.”
“Will you grow up?”
“I am grown. Wanna see how grown?” Etain smirked, she would not sleep with him, but teasing was fun. Teasing is what friends did.
“You don’t have the right parts for me.”
Etain laughed. “Oh, and Gabby does?” She smirked as continued to fashion her sugary weapon.
“Hey! Don’t bring me into this childish game!”
“Says a grown man who became an archaeologists because he lost his favorite babble when he was robbing graves before he became a big evil villain.” Etain looked at him with a smirk. She then poked him with the candy cane.
Gabriel started and glared. “Only you would make a weapon out of a candy cane.”
“Would you three please behave?” Catriona sighed, “seriously, Arc, stop causing pain. What did Tony and Gabe do?”
“He is Tony. Enough said. I mean he wears his underwear outside his pants. And Gabby is a bad guy like me.”
“Hey! That was the fashion for superheroes at the time! I would change my outfit now!” Tony yelled, as Gabe yelled, “retired bad guy!”
“Good, I won’t be seen with you in that old outfit.”
“Will you three stop acting like children and behave?”
“Yes, mom.” They all sang song.
William cleared his throat, getting everybody’s attention, “okay! So, first Arc wants to say something. Then she will get to ask the first question.”
Etain raised an eyebrow from where she was lounging against some pillows with Catriona next to her. “I am making an announcement saying that I am awesome? Powerful? Queen of Evil? Cute as hell? Which is where you all have said I came from?”
“Arc.”
Etain rolled her eyes. “So, my shrink over there says to face my past, I must remember who I am, and by that, I mean allow that you all know my actual name. I am Etain, Daughter of Brien.”
“O’Brien… You used that all the time.” Tony laughed, “you hid your name in your fake name!”
“Eh, it was a way to keep up the lie I sprung from nothing. But by doing that, I realized I gave the man power. That I am nothing more than something owned by him. So, I am Etain. I have no last name. I belong to nobody.”
The others nodded had similar issues with the times they were born. “Okay, so, Etain, what is your first question?” Tony asked as he plopped down with a bottle of wine, filling Catriona’s glass and his own, offering Etain.
Etain shook her head at the offer. She tilted her head and then smirked. “Who was everybody’s first love? I can answer first, I was in a poly amorous relationship. My wife to be was named Bridgid. My husband to be was named Drest. I had been having sex with Bridgid since I was twelve. About four months in, Drest caught us. We asked him to join. I adored being taken by both of them. I was planning the final steps of my marriage ceremony when my world was turned upside down. The opposing forces killed them.” They did not get to know everything right now.
While Tony was talking about some guy Catriona froze. Her first love? While Etain was sitting right there? Etain was opening up bit by bit, and it wa great. But Catriona could not help but get jealous when she joked with the others. Catriona always worried that she would pick someone else to date when she got well. And now Catriona had to tell Etain the story of her first love? That may set Etain off. She may just go back in time to them. After all, her first love story did not end well.
“Earth to Cat?” Etain placed a hand upon her’s. “You okay, Cat?”
“Just fine.”
“It is your turn.”
Catriona swallowed, “you must promise me something Etain.”
“Anything.”
“I am serious.”
“I am too. Anything you want. Anything.”
“You cannot lose control. You cannot let your powers go.”
Etain frowned, why would a first love story need that promise. “Okay…”
“Etain.”
“Okay, I promise. I said anything.”
“You can’t travel time, can you?”
Etain snorted, “nobody can but the crazy man in a blue box.”
“That is a television show.”
“There is a reason whoever created us made sure none of us had the power to go back in time. We can be super fast, we can fly, but none of us can change the past. No matter how much we wish we could sometimes. Everything happens for a reason. You told me that. You told me that many times through the years.”
Catriona nodded and sighed, “his name was Paul.”
Catriona was twenty. She had just met the most wonderful being. He had a minor power, so he stayed and lived a normal life. He believed that women were equal. It was a radical thought during this time. He started to court her. He would come and visit and they would just talk. They talked about books. They talked about the new university, Oxford. They talked about education for both men and women. They talked languages. And he was so sweet. He stated he understood she had no desire for sex. He kept his touches light and friendly. A kiss to a cheek. A brush of lips. Catriona fell slowly in love. She found herself on his arm whenever they went out. Happy and content. Perhaps one day they could marry.
It all changed one night. Catriona had come back from a battle with Arc. And had just wanted to lie down and sleep. It was late when there was banging on her door. She opened the door to find Paul. “Paul?”
“You tease! I have been patient this whole year. Now, you are going to put out.”
Panic filled Catriona. He hit her and ripped at her clothes. But before he could complete his crime, a rage filled Catriona and she let loose her powers. There on the floor was a puddle of Paul. Catriona blinked before she bent over and threw up. She ran to the only place she ran safe, her mother’s.
“So, my first love ended up being that man that almost stole what is only mine to give.” Catriona finished her story and saw Etain standing up. “Etain…”
“I need a moment.” Etain moved and went outside. She took deep calming breaths. Why did people have to be so evil? Honestly, for all the death and destruction she had caused, she never took a person’s will away. The right to say yes or no. She took deep breaths, trying to keep her promise to Catriona. She turned when a twig snapped. “Catriona.”
“Etain, are you okay?”
“Your question about time travel makes sense now. But I am fine. Are you?”
“Yes. I was able to work through it a long time ago, Etain. To me it is just a bad memory.”
Etain nodded, “just so you know, if I could travel through time, I would have killed him the moment he knocked on your door.”
“I know.”
“Let’s get back before they think we are either killing each other or having sex.”
Catriona laughed, “is that what the bets are on?”
“If it makes you feel better, all but Timothy think we will have sex and never fight again. Timmy thinks we have a big knock out battle brewing first.”
“And what do you think?”
Etain smirked, “I adore you, I can’t deny that. But you will push while I am on this therapy path. And I push back.”
Catriona nodded, “good. Push if you need too. It sets boundaries. Though, I got to ask something.”
“Shoot.”
“When you talked about ropes that final battle?”
“Have you ever been tied up during sex?”
“No. It doesn’t seem like something I would like.”
“Would you like it if it was you tying me up?”
An image of a naked Etain laying on their bed, tied down by silken ropes flashed through her mind, and a blush came to her cheeks. “Umm…”
“I will take that as a, maybe. One day we can find out.” Etain laughed as she left a flustered Catriona in the yard as she made her way back to the group.
Catriona took deep breaths, “that woman does it on purpose. I swear.” She muttered as she made her way back.
Kris Charles - Author 