I’m in an oooey gooey mood so please give me a sweet romantic sappy drippy waff-fest about a couple who meet long after they knew each other in high school. Extra points for any amusement park item.
In order to reduce the severity of Silly Season, Amalgam Station held a station-wide fair once every five months. Every human got some time to play, even folks like Lyr, who worked security.
Even other species got into it. Chitanians were busy hanging lights where no human could reach with the same opposite of assistance. Assorted Saurians were putting up what they believed to be appropriate Terran decorations. She didn’t have the heart to tell them they’d got Halloween and Christmas mixed up again.
By the pricking in her neck… Lyr could sense someone familiar approaching. Not close-familiar. Just someone she used to know.
She turned. O Powers. “Tae Driscol. It’s been too long!”
He smiled. “I should have known I could never sneak up on you. Haven’t seen you since Spooky School.”
“Don’t call it that?” Lyr begged. One bad choice of words, and she was an insecure little pre-cog again, trying to figure out how plastic her future was, and how she could use her erratic gift for the greater good. And just like that, she remembered being in love with Tae Driscol.
He was still as handsome as ever. The cut of his clothes and the natural materials used in them told her how successful he was as a Finder.
‘If’s from yesteryear snowed down on her mind. If she had said 'yes’. If she hadn’t had that vision. If she’d just tried to fight fate one more time…
But she knew better than that, now. She wasn’t a silly teenager, any more. She had a teenaged daughter of her own. She had a family. A husband.
“I see you’re doing well,” she managed.
“I heard you had three kids. How did you manage all that and stay this fit?”
“You haven’t met Ambassador Shayde, then.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I try to Find ways to stay out of trouble…”
“And yet you Found me.”
Another classic Tae grin. “I was after the place with the best fun. And here I am.”
Fond memories made her smile. “Flattery will get you nowhere. Happily married. Allowed to arrest you for trying any nonsense.”
“No nonsense,” he held up his hands in surrender. “I just want to win you a toy panda at the ring toss. For old times’ sake.”
Not the panda. She’d almost forgotten the old toy he’d accidentally destroyed in their class project. The project that proved to be the end of their relationship as a portent of doom.
“If you use your Finding ability, I’ll have to arrest you for cheating,” she warned.
“Flirt,” he countered. It was a joke. An actual joke that was not at her expense. He had changed.
“Jule’s bigger and stronger than you. And I’m… stronger.” Her family had always run to shortness. It just meant she had a lower centre of gravity to use against the enemy.
“Peace, Officer,” said Tae. “I’m here to mend bridges, not burn them.”
She sighed. “It’s hard to forget some of the shit you pulled.”
Tae lead her to the stall that had toy pandas as a prize. Unlike the fair attractions of yore, this one -and all the others- gave participants an actual chance to win something. There were laws against the kind of shenanigans they used to pull during their origin years.
“Well… karma’s biting my ass. My own daughter’s… a lot more like you than me, back in the day.”
“Keep her away from egotists, she should be fine,” teased Lyr.
He threw darts at balloons like a man driven. Every one hit their target. “I was so mad at you for some thing you said the week before the project? I burned your old toy on purpose, and made it look like an accident.”
Lyr stared. “I said we’d be enemies inside a fortnight,” she murmured. “And it’d be decades before we even spoke to each other again.”
Flick, flick, flick, went the darts. Pop, pop, pop went the balloons. “Never argue with a precog.” Another set. Flick, flick, flick. Pop, pop, pop. “She needs to know she can make it. Even with the headaches.”
“Can’t relax into it?”
“Yeah.” He tallied up his points and paid for more darts. “The kids in her class aren’t much of a help, there.”
Lyr remembered that, very well. "Espers can be assholes, sometimes. How often does the therapist work with the class?“
"Daily. Not that it helps. Neither does telling Katie how everyone is all worked up about their own problems that they don’t have much room for empathy… So…”
He had twice the points he needed for a plush panda. Lyr got a 'flash’ of a young, insecure girl crying into one. “She has your hair,” she blurted.
“I’m going to confess,” said Tae. “And give her a panda. And hope it works.”
“Give her a link to my bio. I’m living proof you can improve after a near-asshole experience.”
Tae handed her a panda. “I’m sorry. I had no idea and I didn’t want to catch one.”
Lyr hugged it. It was not the same panda as the one that had helped her through too many rough nights and anxiety headaches, but the feel bought back the memories.
This one would help Elaise, when her gift bloomed.
“Thanks,” said Lyr. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
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