Hybrid Theory Chapter 15
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Chapter Fifteen
Out of the Frying Pan...
We talked nearly all night. By the time Ravan beat me down on the idea, it was too late to sleep so we took a shower, put on fresh clothes and headed for campus. I had two classes, and a four hour shift today before I could come home and crash -- I hoped I could stay awake that long.
Our conversation started out pretty heated, I'll admit, I was pissed. I'm a `take it slow', `natural progression' type of guy. As Ravan hammered into my head over and over though -- we were always going to get married in the end. He and I were like puzzle pieces that are only made to fit into each other. While I would prefer a drawn-out courtship, this plan of theirs would accomplish the same end goal. Plus, Rav said, "Why should a little thing like marriage keep people from courting?" I can't stay mad at him.
I found out at lunch, when I was surprised by Mark, that he and Grexl had enjoyed a very similar heated conversation although for different reasons. Mark pointed out that due to prevailing sentiment against `parak'ta' on Vanterra, we would be dropping into, potentially, a very dangerous situation for all of us. Grexl told him that Zarvek already had it under control. The hotbed was Ixtarra, and there. we would be under the protection of a group of highly trained members of the FP that he had deputized just for a protection detail as we campaigned with them.
"My other concern is school" I told him, "We'll have to drop out to campaign for six months. Will we ever get to finish?"
"If you have $100 million dollars, does it matter? Mark said. I thought I misheard him.
"You mean $10 million" I said.
"No, I mean Grexl negotiated pay for helping out. You two and us two will each get paid $100 million" Mark whispered, "Fully legal with pay stubs from the government of Restarra. We'll have to pay taxes on it when the money is transferred but we should each still clear about $75 million -- pocket change to Restarra -- life altering for the Vargellas" he said. That was the first time I really thought about the name thing. I wondered if we'd keep our own names or how that would work. I kind of like the thought of taking on Ravan's name and leaving my dad's behind.
"Earth to Kreg..." Mark said, "You kind of spaced out there."
"Will you take Grexl's name?" I asked. Mark actually blushed as he moved close and whispered.
"Yeah" he said a little sheepishly, "I'm kind of more the bride type, if you catch my drift. Not all the time, but most."
I keep learning new things about everything, kind of interesting to have yet another thing in common with my uncle.
"Me too" I told him, "I'd say about 75% of the time, unless Rav is craving a good railing."
"Same" he said.
After we talked, I found myself actually getting kind of excited about the whole thing. It was all getting to be like a big adventure. After work I went in Evan's office and let him know that I was quitting; it would be unfair to have him hold a job for me for six months, especially when I may not come back to it after all was said and done.
I hadn't been with Ravan since Monday. Kathy insisted that it was bad luck for us to be together before the wedding, so I'd been bunking with Danny until the weekend (No homo).
Wednesday GalEx came before I got home, and Danny signed for it. When we tore it open it was a pair of tickets for Ravan and Kregard Vargella -- I got a lump in my throat and my eyes watered just a little.
"Oh gods! You aren't going to start getting all mushy, are you?" Danny asked, looking uncomfortable.
"No, little brother, I won't, just for you" I said -- a subtle reminder that we'd be family in a couple of days.
Kathy wouldn't even let me and Rav see at dinner; she or Kris would take a tray up to him. It occurred to me that the reason for this tradition had to do with the old adage `absence makes the heart grow fonder'. It had only been two days, and it was driving me crazy. 48 hours without being able to touch my other half -- it was downright inhumane.
Thursday morning's temperature was all of 18°. I dreaded having to get on my bike to make the ride to the bookstore. Thankfully, Kris volunteered to drive me. It would have been so much easier to just go with Rav, but Kathy wouldn't hear of it. I thanked Kris and made a run for the bookstore to get out of the cold. I went back to the employee lounge to clock in and was met with my two fucking shadows from the Liason's office.
"We hear you and Mr. Vargella are taking a VIP trip to Vanterra" Danvers said. I decided to tweak him a little.
"Yes, sir. A honeymoon, courtesy of family. We're getting married Saturday" I said smiling.
"Family? Hmm!" he said, "So part of your family is the biggest pedo-porn peddler on Vanterra?"
"Ravan's aunt is the Justice Minister of Restarra" I told him.
"The enabler for her criminal scum of a husband" he said. Rivers pulled at his sleeve -- I sensed he was overstepping some boundary of etiquette or something. He pulled himself back into a semblance of normal.
"Don't feel that those plans set in stone, Mr. Silnorra. Sometimes plans get changed" he said with a twisted half smile.
"We'll be in touch" he said as he and Rivers stepped back out into the cold.
I went out and started doing my regular tasks, accompanied by a girl who I was training to be my replacement. I got her started stocking, then ducked into an aisle a little farther over and called Grexl.
"Dumb and Dumber were just here at my job. Danvers seemed to be threatening that he could keep us from getting on the transport" I told him.
"I'll handle it" he said and hung up. I went back to finish out the rest of my day.
Kathy, of all people, was waiting for me when I got off, to whisk me back to the house. Me, her and Danny ate in the kitchen. She had Kris take his and Rav's dinner upstairs and the two of them ate together. I was getting really weary of not being with Rav. It was like my entire mental health support system had been taken away from me. I helped Kathy clean up and watched a little TV with them, then turned in early.
I covered my head while Danny played his game for another hour or so. Somehow, I finally managed to get to sleep. When Danny crawled into the bed my mind was foggy. In my muddled mind, it was Rav coming to bed, and after Danny got in, I reflexively moved up against him. Danny freaked out.
"Dude! Uh, what are you doing exactly?" he said, rapidly moving to the edge of the bed. I was startled back wide awake.
"Sorry, force of habit" I said.
"Dude!" he said. "Okay, just stay on your side, none of the homo stuff with me, got it?"
"I said I'm sorry" I told him.
"We're good, just try to stay strong one and a half more nights" he said. Just to make sure, he got up and pulled an oversized teddy bear from the back of his closet and handed it to me. "I know it's not my stinking brother, but..."
"Thanks" I said, curling around the big stuffed animal.
"My childhood memories destroyed" he said, but he was smiling. The rest of the night the bear was my own personal stand-in for Rav.
I tossed and turned most of the night. As soon as dawn broke, I got up and quietly walked to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. I was pouring a cup when Kathy came in, still in her night gown and house robe. Before sitting, I poured her a cup too.
"It's the last day before my son gets married" she mused.
"If I'd had my way you would have had more time to get used to the idea" I said softly.
"I know...you do really want this, don't you?" she asked nervously.
"I've known for a while now that I do...Rav does...I just wanted it on OUR terms, not the smut-peddler's" I replied.
"Speaking of Zarvek...another special delivery came for you guys" she pointed to the box by the back door.
I went and retrieved the box and split the tape with a claw and opened the box. There were two almost identical robes inside. They were long, white, silky. One had an aqua blue ring of material around the cuffs, the other cuffs were ringed with magenta cloth. I didn't know what to make of it.
"Traditionally, the man wears the aqua, the woman takes the magenta. In your case..." she trailed off. I knew I'd be the one wearing the magenta. For people who knew what it meant it would be TMI, but I guess that's par for the course with this circus we'd gotten ourselves into. I settled the garments back into the box and felt another small, padded envelope in the bottom of the box and pulled it out. A curved piece of gold with Splendor inlay, obviously shaped to fit the tip of my folded ear. I held it up for Kathy to see. In the dark room the specs of color shined like a kaleidoscope.
"Looks like I'm expected to go get my ear pierced now..." I sighed.
"It's so beautiful" Kathy said, "It'll be worth it."
"I'll probably faint, I'm not much for pain" I said.
"I'll go with you, you'll be okay" she answered. How did they get the shape so close to the curve of my ear tip? I wondered. "You're not the only brown dog in the universe" Kathy joked.
We waited around until we heard Rav leave, then Kathy dragged me to the car and over to the same shop where I'd bought Rav's ear cuff. The woman looked the piece over and adjusted his piercing tool, to match the slightly different distance between the two posts on it.
"Real Vanterran production. This cost somebody a pretty penny" the saleslady said. She dipped the end of my ear in a sterilizing solution and told me to think happy thoughts. I closed my eyes tightly and thought about what Rav would think about this piece of jewelry. I felt her moving it around to get just the right spot. Kathy moved in and booped my nose a half a second before I heard and felt the loud "POP" and it was over. I still had my eyes squeezed shut and didn't unclench until the second POP. I felt the woman wiping the back of the posts with some kind of cream.
"Look, Kreg" Kathy said. I finally opened my eyes. It made me think of gold flakes on a turd; it was way too fancy for a plain brown dog like me.
"You don't like it?" she asked.
"It's fine...I guess" I said dejectedly.
"Okay. What's wrong with it?" she asked again.
"It's just...I don't know...I'm not..." I couldn't pick out the right words, "I mean...look at me...I'm not...handsome or hot...I'm just...uh...plain. This thing doesn't go with me."
"Kregard Silnorra, you don't need enemies; you're more than capable of beating yourself up way more thoroughly than anybody else can" she snapped, "For the love of gods, if Ravan didn't think you were special, I assure you he wouldn't be okay with any of this. It's time you let go of that self-loathing instilled by your father and live your own life!"
"Yes, ma'am!" was all I could think of to say. She realized how she'd just gone off on me in a jewelry store and looked around at the other people there. I started laughing at her. She started laughing with me. Several of the other patrons came over and told me that the jewelry looked very nice on me. I looked in the mirror again and tried to imagine what it would look like from Rav's point of view. I kind of tilted my head and smiled into the mirror and had to admit, I really didn't look too shabby. After the jewelry store, she dropped me at the bookstore and took off; she had to be in court by 1 o'clock. The day ticked by slowly. I got several compliments on my new accoutrement. When I left at six, Mark was there to pick me up.
"Where's Grex?" I asked. He shrugged.
"His freaking sister-in-law hasn't let us see each other all week" he said; his pissy (very likely horny) attitude mirroring my own.
"How exactly does she get to control what y'all do again?" I asked.
"If she doesn't get her way, Kris gets punished, therefore Kris is her enforcer. He threatened Grexl to stay away from me until Saturday" he said.
"Don't feel bad" I told him, "Imagine being like 60 feet away from him and not being allowed to leave the house."
"Well...it's all over tomorrow" he said. My stomach turned a flip. He dropped me at the house and went on back to his place.
"Thanks for the ride, see you tomorrow" I said.
Friday night I didn't sleep much at all. Even with my teddy bear Rav substitute I was still tossing and turning all night. I finally gave up about 4am and tiptoed into the kitchen and started the coffeemaker as quietly as possible. I poured myself a cup and sat on the sofa sipping my java and thinking about the day to come and the ramifications of it. The Vanterran holy man had given us all a little pamphlet explaining the ceremony and showing what we were supposed to say. I'd pretty much memorized it now. I was going for my second cup when Kris came into the kitchen.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"Severely" I replied.
"Do you want to back out?" he asked.
"It's not the act, it's the timing. I just thought we'd do all this on our own timeframe. I feel like this kind of cheapens it" I told him.
"Can I be nosy?" he asked. I hesitantly nodded,
"Do you love Ravan?" he asked me.
"I actually love Ravan more than I love myself" I told him without any hesitation whatsoever.
"In your long-term plan, after all the dating and living together, you would have gotten married, right?" I could see where he was going with this.
"Yeah, but..." I said before being quickly interrupted.
"Keep your butt out of it" Kris said, "It's not the timing that is the issue. What's really bothering you?"
"I don't know if I'm good enough for Rav" I said, looking deep into the depths of my coffee.
"Son, you have an ailment common among the betrothed. You're not ugly, you're not stinky, you're not lame or anything else. The only thing that should matter to you is this: Do you want to be with Ravan, and does he want to be with you" he said.
"I definitely want to be with Rav all the way into the next life" I said.
"In confidence, just between you and me, Rav told me that having you in this house and his mom keeping him from even saying hello to you has him about to go insane. His answer to the question I asked you was the same -- he said he loves you more than he loves himself. If that's not enough, then I don't know what is" my soon-to-be father-in-law said. I hadn't even heard Kathy come in the room.
"Kreg, haven't we already had this conversation?" she said through a yawn.
"I wish I could convince myself that I was perfect for Rav. My dad didn't even want me to associate with upper class kids at all" I told them.
"There's the root of your entire problem" Kris said, "The Vanterran class system is tenuous these days even on Vanterra. It should be utterly meaningless here on Earth. Your dad must be some kind of social throwback."
"He's a real piece of...uh...work" I said, taking a big gulp of coffee.
"From me and Kris both -- Fuck the class difference, fuck the homophobes, fuck anybody who makes you feel less than" Kathy said, "You're perfect for Ravan, we couldn't have picked a sweeter, cuter, more loyal boyfriend for our son. Oh, and they used to have arranged marriages on Vanterra, so..."
I was suddenly felt a lot better about everything. I just had to make it through today. The ceremony was at 4pm, I had approximately 10 and a half more hours of single life.
Kathy and I made breakfast, and Kris took a plate up to Rav. I tried to catch a peek when he opened the door, but Kathy pulled me away from the window. Shortly after breakfast Mark came and picked me up. I grabbed the package with my robe and went with him to spend the day leading up to the ceremony. We went to a salon; Mark got a haircut and mani/pedi and he treated me to a professional full-body grooming -- less the area covered by my briefs. This was a classy place - no happy endings. We stopped and got a light lunch, just a salad, there was supposed to be a feast later. Then we just wandered around wasting time till about 3 o'clock. We headed to the temple to get ready.
What we didn't expect was the team of Vanterran journalists. The whole temple had been turned into a makeshift studio. Several of them tried to stop us for a pre-wedding interview, but we were quickly shepherded into a little room on one side of the building where we were to change into our vestments as the officiator called them. The pamphlet said that we were to wear nothing under the robes; it was like a symbol that we had nothing to hide. That made it a little awkward; Mark and I had never been naked together before. I couldn't help but covertly check him out. I think I saw him peeking too. We quickly stripped and pulled on the ceremonial robes. I looked in the mirror and noticed how the specs in the Splendor matched the magenta sleeve rings, and how the gold flecks in the Splendor matched the color of my eyes. In the subdued lighting of this dressing room, I think I could kind of see how someone might find me attractive. It was like looking at a glamour shot of myself.
"Don't get a hard on, that would give everybody a show with these robes" I giggled to Mark.
"No shit" he said.
We were down to the wire, watching the clock tick down the minutes. I was taking deep breaths, holding them and letting them out, sill fighting my nerves. Finally, we got the call. We walked out and the cameras all turned toward us, following our every move. The music played and Mark and I approached from one side while Grexl and Ravan approached from the other to meet in the middle. Kris took Mark's hand and placed it in Grexl's, then took my hand and placed it in Rav's very shaky hand. Kathy came up and wrapped a long ribbon of gold cloth around each couples' hands, loosely tying them together. We stood silently as a couple of young poodle-looking boys in robes similar to ours went up and started light the numerous candles as the lights from the ceiling were brought down until only the myriad candles illuminated the temple. The boys finished and step to each side, their hands crossed in front of them. Behind the podium, a cantor began singing a Vanterran wedding hymn. I'd read the words but quickly forgotten them. When his song came to its end, the minister walked to the podium.
"May the gods graces be upon all who are present today" the minister began.
"...and also with you" the crowd responded.
"In the beginning was the Infinite Soul. It was omnipotent, yet alone. The Soul longed for companionship; it was hungry for new experiences. The Infinite Soul wandered aimlessly through the galaxy gathering experiences the way a pup gathers berries, however nothing seemed to please it. In an act of desperation, the Infinite Soul shattered itself into countless pieces and fragments flew into every living creature. As each being lived their lives, all their experiences were written on their fragment. Some lucky few are able to find their complementary fragment and in the joining of the two small pieces, create something that shines much brighter than the brightest star. If one finds their true soulmate, nothing can stop the fragments from joining and adhering far past mortal life and into eternity until, many lifetimes later, they finally blend back into the one true Infinite Soul" he said.
"Today, standing before us, we are presented with not one, but two couples who seek the sacrament of joining."
The young boys who lit the candles were moving again. They came and sprinkled us with something, then stepped back into their positions.
"Grexl Vargella: you may state your claim" the minister said.
"I, Grexl Prakmir Vargella, state that I have found my missing piece, and I claim the fragment within Marcus Tyler Grantham to join with my own, if his will be to consent to be joined with me" Grexl said.
"Marcus Tyler Grantham, do you accept the call of your soul's mate, yearning to meld his fragment with your own making the two become one?"
"I, Marcus Tyler Grantham, do accept the call and join my fragment with yours, my love, forever and always" Mark said to Grexl. The minister walked over to them and brought Mark's other hand and placed it in Grexl's free hand and tied them with another gold ribbon.
"The gods smile with joy this day to see two souls melded into one! Henceforth, you shall never be alone!" the minister said.
"Shall you always be as one!" the audience responded.
Danny made his way to the front and presented the pillow with two gold rings with embedded Splendor, much like the ones Rav and I had, except much more ornate (courtesy of Zarvek). The minister released the two ribbons and Grexl and Mark each picked up a ring and simultaneously placed it on each other's finger saying, "Two become one, joined in our very essence, beyond the grasp of even time itself."
The minister laid his hand over their two hands and said, "The power of the gods channel through me and seal the bond."
I could swear I saw a glow of soft light envelope their hands. The cameras zoomed in on the phenomena. Finally, the minister said, "The gods have created an unbreakable bond here today. Let all know from henceforth that these two are one."
Again, the audience responded, "Shall you always be as one!"
Applause from the crowd for a few minutes then the ceremony reset for Ravan and I. This was Zarvek's money shot scene. The camera teams repositioned closer to us. It was all a blur until the end when the minister laid his hand over our and spoke his words. I saw the glow again, but more than that I felt as if something had literally joined him to me. It was like an invisible string tied between us. I felt the tears wetting my muzzle. One cameraman was all-but in my face trying to capture my tears of joy.
"Let all know from henceforth that these two are one" he intoned again.
I heard Kris and Kathy go wild and come running up to congratulate us. We went and changed back into our street clothes and met up in the reception hall. None of it felt real to me yet. The minister pulled us four aside to sign the requisite legal documents. Grexl and Marcus Vargella and Kregard and Ravan Vargella. As I signed my new name, I felt the waterworks starting up again, but my husband snapped me out of it when music started, and he pulled me out into the room to dance. The party lasted several hours. We all left around 9 o'clock to go claim the two top floor suites we'd been gifted at the Hilton and the crowd seemed to be breaking up. Everybody wished up well and we told Kathy and Kris we'd see them Monday. Rav and Grexl kept jockeying to be in front as we blew down the freeway headed into town, but we ended up behind them pulling into the parking garage. I'd been getting tired before we left the temple, but now, as I knew what was about to take place in our suite, I was suddenly invigorated.
"Shall we always be as one" I whispered to my love, "Shall we always be as one" he whispered back to me.
Lambodara 1/6/24
Thanks for all your supportive comments so far! You guys are great.