Nanowrimo 2022

Moving Cite

American Kingdom Day 28.1

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E-5 level pay isn’t all that great. More than I was making as a tour guide for sure but I wouldn’t be setting up my own waterfront townhouse South of Broad any time soon.

The real reward — as with the Army — lay in the benefits. With everything basically “on the house” — healthcare, accommodation, food, work clothing, transport, pension plan, entertainment for starters — my salary was pretty much gravy.

We weren’t all smiling. I got the feeling that Oscar was giving up a good legal practice to work for the King, and Annie as a doctor might be well provided for on the outside as well.

Oh dear. I’d forgotten about them apart from our cold calculations of how the system might work.

If we were right and Hazel and I moving in together meant the end of the course, then it also meant that the lovers would be separated, with their respective careers diverging. Maybe we should delay our plan, give them the full four weeks?

Then again, what sort of service to the Lord was that? Four wasted weeks. Return of the King delayed a month due to administrative friction. No thank you.

I intruded myself into the company of Annie and Oscar as they quick-marched back to their shared quarters once we were dismissed for the day.

“Annie”, I began.

“What?” snapped Oscar.

“It’s important.” I said. “This course may end tomorrow.”

They exchanged looks. Yeah, I was getting the hang of this mind-reading business as well now.

I briefly explained our solution to the puzzle of the odd numbers and the variable course lengths.

“Nathan wants the job and the glory, so Hazel and I will be sharing a room. One across the corridor from you…”

“Thank you!”

“…and if our theory is correct, then the course will end almost immediately, and well, not to put too fine a point on the thing, your joint holiday here will likely end.”

“That’s stupid!” Annie said, looking fiercely at me.

“That’s what I thought but nothing else adds up. What my friend Sir Brian says confirms it.”

“Thanks for telling us, Molly,” Oscar said. “We’ll take it from here. We’ll work something out. Together.”

Hazel helped me move my things into a vacant room across the corridor. On the north side of the block but with winter out of the way and summer just around the corner, it didn’t really matter.

And then I helped her with her stuff. Annie and Oscar now had a vacant room on either side and with luck we wouldn’t be disturbed by any midnight grunts or squeals.

Besides, I’d only be here for one night, maybe two if we hadn’t walked out on some spurious ledge of logic.

We were shacked up. In the showers, we examined each other with a different air. Of ownership, maybe. If I was reading Hazel right, we might be the ones making joyful sounds late at night. With Nathan out of the picture, I had to relieve the pressure or bust.

We wrapped ourselves in bath towels and walked back along the corridor. Hazel opened the door for me and closed it behind her.

“Twenty minutes before quiet,” she said. “Lie down on your towel. No, the other way. I want to look at you.”

She was looking into my eyes and I was looking back. Hard. Jesus might be in there somewhere but he was going to have to grit his teeth and enjoy the show.

“How…?”

“Your nipples have been up for the last twenty minutes, Molly. I’m not a complete idiot. Now hush.”

She touched them both lightly with the tip of her tongue. Like hitting the ignition switch, something was happening inside. Her mouth found mine, lips soft against mine, that pointed tongue of hers gaining an easy entry.

I shivered with delight. She drew back and waited until I raised my head to kiss her, drawing her down again, feeling her smile against mine.

“Mmmm,” she sighed. “Yummy, but I’m in a hurry.”

She lowered her head and bent to my breasts again. I felt her fingers against my scar as she traced it down, first with her hands touching every little purple line and bump, and then her tongue down over my chest, ribcage, and belly.

Dear Lord, but I was so wet as she moved her mouth closer. I arched my back and tilted my hips, hurry up woman!

She paused on the threshold, feeling the hard little nubbin where the scar ran out in the tangle of curly hair. I must be fragrant by now. She took a deep appreciative breath, and frankly, so did I.

There was a knock on the door. “You two decent?”

Next chapter:

The whole story:

Notes

Gosh, I thought I was on top of this thing. Yesterday I had a bunch of things to do and didn’t get as much writing done as I really needed. I had a reasonably good idea of where things were heading.

I couldn’t write much, but I could read and so I went back over some of my earlier chapters. There are a few loose ends and inconsistencies I can fix up. Leonie’s cat changes gender a couple of times; that’s easy. The three female rooms in the barracks need to be sorted out. I put Hazel’s room closest to the showers so that when Hazel and Molly go there to massage each other’s shoulders, Hazel can drop her towel and lie down on her rack. Oh I’m such a sucker for a pun.

Molly is supposed to get to fly the bizjet and I never really give her the chance. I guess it can be glossed over or I can go back and write it in but it would be more wordage to drag the story at that time of transition.

The key problem was that Annie had at one time indicated that Molly’s scar had involved role-playing at gunpoint. Molly jumps to the conclusion that Duke Francis had been the source of the story but I couldn’t really find any plausible reason for him to bruit this about. I mean it’s fairly juicy but I have plans for Molly and Francis and they don’t involve the duke kissing and telling.

So how did the information get to Annie at Camp Whiffie faster than a speeding executive jet?

That took me a bit of effort to nail down. I’m still not sure I’ve got it but the jigsaw piece fits the puzzle I’ve got so far, so I’m going to run with it because I’ve got over 5,000 words to write in two days and my thinking time is running out.

The words aren’t really the problem so much as knowing what I’m going to write about and how it fits into the plot and pacing.

Molly