Scion – Petro Campaign – Downtime 2
This account was originally found on Livejournal, I am not the original author—I am just a fan of the journal and have found reading it on livejournal clunky to navigate and rife with errors/instability (such as having to refresh multiple times due to the page in questions becoming unavailable often requiring multiple refreshes. The original post can be found here, published by DJ-Yomi, and was published on Sep 20th. 2007.
Well, I’ve been back in Boston for a few weeks now, and I must say I’m pretty happy about how things have been going. Mara and I have grown closer, Adam came to see me, and I have some gigs lined up in Chicago over the next month or so. The only worrisome thing that’s happened lately is that Oiwa’s been stirring and might be reborn soon.
The first thing I did after getting back from Beaver Creek State Park (after a nice long soak in a steaming bath with blood-colored bath salts followed by a good night’s sleep, of course) was head to Red Mountain to see Mara. I’d missed her while I was away, and I had a feeling she probably missed me too. It’s amazing how quickly you can form close attachments to people who are…I don’t know…right for you.
Anyway, Mara was delighted to see me. I’ve never felt so overwhelmed with affection in all my life, but it was nice. Before going to Beaver Creek, I helped Mara acquire the house that sits near her subterranean home (you know, the one all the shikome were hanging out in). We spent a lot of time (and quite a bit of money) cleaning and decorating the place, so it’s a great place to crash now. Mara still spends most of her time underground when I’m not around, but she can use the house when she wants to use the computer we got for her or when she needs to get cell phone reception. The house also gives us a convenient place to stay when I go to visit.
Like I said, she was thrilled to see that I was back. And she had a surprise for me. She changed her look a bit. Apparently, she took to heart some of the comments I made about how attractive she was and decided to emphasize those aspects of her beauty. The most striking change is that she’s wearing glasses now. I mentioned once how she had the perfect face to wear glasses and make them look sexy. And she does look sexy in glasses. I learned later that there’s another reason she took to wearing glasses so willingly, but I’m not really at liberty to share. It’s a secret. ^_^
I spent a few days with Mara just having fun, shopping, talking…the normal stuff. She took me around to some of the best caves on Red Mountain, places that aren’t tainted by the fires and that still hold an air of mystery and serenity. Of course, for her, caves are like home, but after what I went through in Beaver Creek, I was a little anxious about them. But Mara gently convinced me to go inside and spend time in them with her. I tried to keep in mind the things Pierre told me about how, being a child of death, I was a part of the Earth. Along with Mara’s encouragement, that actually made hanging out in the caverns much easier. In fact, I got used to it pretty quickly. I’m sure that not being trapped helped out a lot too.
Mara encouraged me to take my laptop into the caves with us so that I could work on composing some new tracks. Most of my stuff is electronic, and I usually add Quinn, Dahlia, and Brand’s vocals later anyway, so it wasn’t really out of the ordinary (BTW, Brand, which of short for Brandon, of course, is a friend of mine who does great male vocals for me; I should talk more about him some time). Even so, I kinda wondered why Mara was so insistent, but she wouldn’t tell me. I figured it out pretty quickly, though. For one thing, the natural reverb effects I got listening to the music in the caverns were incredible. My kind of music uses a lot of reverb anyway, and the subtle echo effect of the cave fit perfectly. The really incredible thing, though, is that I felt so much more creative than normal! The whole experience just inspired me (I banged out the basics of three new tracks while I was there), and Mara was a big part of that. Just her presence made my work better. It seems she’s something of a muse – literally. Too bad Dahlia can’t do that same for T-Bone. Or maybe she can. He did write that great song about her.
The time I spent with Mara convinced me how sincere her affection for me is, and I have to admit that I found myself sharing a lot of what she seemed to feel. I didn’t really expect that. I’ve never dated another woman before, so it was new to me. And my first impression of Mara was that she was just a shallow nymph (in every sense of the word). But by the time our trouble with Grundy was over, I’d helped save her life, and she seemed truly enamored of me. And now that I’ve spent more time with her, I’ve discovered what a vibrant and deep person she really is. I also discovered that even though she’s generally flirtatious and interested in sleeping around with a few others (she is a nymph, after all), her interest in me is a lot more serious and deep than that. I realized that I really had missed Mara while I was away at Beaver Creek and that I had real feelings for her too.
That’s why, a couple days into my visit, I finally gave in to her attempts to seduce me. She took me down to her subterranean sanctum, which is composed of these wonderful Grecian chambers decorated with all sorts of modern trappings that she’s acquired over the past couple of months. The place is a little chaotic in terms of its interior design (it was kind of a post-modern classical meets art deco kinda place), but it was sumptuous and comfortable. It almost felt like a dream.
Anyway, Mara took me to her home and we went to bed together. I’m not in the habit of talking about my romantic encounters, so I won’t go into detail, but it was…nice. Very nice. Mara’s a great lover. Fortunately, both of us still want to be able to date others. I may have just become bisexual, but of course that doesn’t mean I’m not still into guys. I’m still incredibly interested in Adam, for instance, which is fine with Mara (despite her deep feelings for me), as long as I don’t ditch her to pursue a completely monogamous relationship with him.
In light of the new intimacy of our relationship, Mara shared a wonderful secret with me. I won’t reveal it, of course, but it made me see her with an entirely new level of respect and admiration. And the simple fact that she entrusted the secret to me made me feel even closer to her. Of course, the secret may cause us some trouble down the line, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes.
Okay, I’ve gushed about that enough for now.
In other news, Keiko and Sera lined up a series of gigs for me in Chicago, so I’ll be leaving for the city soon. Of course, I have an ulterior motive. I plan to find time to visit Adam while I’m there, and I’m hoping to go out with him a few times. It’ll be nice to spend some time alone with him without all of our lovable but bloodthirsty friends around (okay, T-Bone’s just lovable, not bloodthirsty). I hope they don’t try to keep Adam and me apart like they joked about while we were camping.
And while I’m talking about Adam, I was pleasantly surprised when he came to Boston to visit me! It happened just few days ago, and he headed back to Chicago earlier this morning. We went out a couple of times. Of course he was being his typical mysterious self and I couldn’t quite figure out whether we went out on dates or just as friends, but at least I got to know him a little better.
He actually came to speak with me about recent events, most notably the narrowly avoided situation with Anna (when she almost tried to kill me. *Shudder*). He strongly believes that Anna is a deeply entwined part of his own “legend” and so she is very important to him. His relationship with her ended badly, and I don’t think he really believes it has a chance of being raised from the dead, but I got the feeling he wasn’t entirely sure about that. In any event, Anna is important to him even if they don’t get back together. As he explained that, my heart sank. I may be completely enamored of Mara right now, but the crush I have on Adam is real too.
But then Adam went on to say that he also believed that I am a part of his legend too, and I’m becoming a more important part of it as time goes on. If that didn’t sound like an invitation to pursue a relationship with him, I don’t know what does! I can’t tell you happy that made me.
So, the upshot of all this is that I’m definitely going to ask Adam out when I get to Chicago (if he doesn’t ask me out first), and I’m pretty sure he’ll be up for it. Now, I just have to figure out a way to deal with Anna’s jealousy. Sure, I could probably keep talking her down every time she gets mad, but that’ll get old really fast, and it’s not really fair to her.
Aside from Adam’s visit and my time with Mara, the only other really special thing that’s happened since I got back from Beaver Creek is that Oiwa is beginning to stir. I’m sensing more of what she’s feeling, and I can tell that she’s almost ready to be reborn. I’m glad she’s been able to restore herself so well, but I’m a little worried about what’ll happen when she separates herself from me. I don’t think it’ll really harm me, though I have been having spells where I don’t feel so well. I’ve gotten lightheaded and dizzy a few times and felt a sharp pain on my heart once or twice. I think she’s been using my blood to strengthen herself. And every now and then a handprint or the image of Oiwa’s face appears on my stomach, which is really cool even if it is freaky as hell. I’ve also been craving red meat lately, which is weird because I don’t normally eat much of it. If this keeps up, it’ll be a relief when Oiwa leaves.
I can sense more of what Oiwa thinks of others, though, which is interesting. She apparently hates Mara and Adam. Mara’s presence disturbs her somehow, so she recoils when Mara’s around. Adam’s a little different…I think she’s afraid of him, like she fears he’ll betray her or something. I meant to tell Adam about that when he was here, but I didn’t get around to it before he left. Pierre also gets a rise out of her. I’m not sure, but I think she’s confused by him. She’s not comfortable when he’s around, but I also think she’s attracted to him. It’s actually kind of cute and endearing. Aside from that, Oiwa’s pretty ambivalent toward most people, which is a good thing, I guess.
Anyway, I imagine we’ll be seeing more of her soon. In the mean time, I’m getting ready for Chicago and enjoying my life.