Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Two (section)

===Happy Birthday, Jake===

As the afternoon swung by, the group visited the city walls.  The colossal structure encircled the whole city, brooding over its citizens like a scowling parent.  The air up here was so windy that the party had to use caution crossing open stretches of wall, or be bowled over by the gusts.

All five donned sunglasses for the journey.  They stared in silence over the plains of the Pyre desert, gazing in astonishment at the infinite fields of ash.

Remilia shielded her glasses from her blowing hair.  “It’s…horrible.  An entire portion of the continent…dead.”

“The entire planet, or close to it,” Venus replied.

Their guide, a star-struck young PDF Sergeant, eagerly showed them where the dunes were flat enough that the curvature of the horizon was plainly visible.  “It’s like the ice caps of Fenris out there, only even more dead,” Freya remarked.

“Except for that.  What’s moving out there?” Jake asked, pointing south over the grey ashes.

The Sergeant squinted.  “I think it’s a Land Speeder."

“I thought you guys didn’t use those,” Jake said to Venus.

“We use them all the time, just as a small proportion of our force composition,” she said.  “I’d bet money that that’s a passenger variant, corralling Initiates on a trial.”

“In these deserts?  Harsh,” Alex commented.

“Can’t have Salamanders that can’t take a little heat.  And flesh-dissolving sulfur pits and Sa’hrk nests.”  Venus shrugged.  “Trust me, it’s better this way.”

By dinner, the group was back in the castle and thoroughly sunburned.  Jake eased back into the chair in the middle of the sitting room, gingerly rubbing lotion into his scorched hiver skin.  “Okay, ow.”

“SPF Fifty can not withstand the power of your girlfriend’s hellacious sun,” Freya observed.  Damn her, her skin was already healing.

“I was fine yesterday!” Jake protested.

“We weren’t standing above all those nice, radiation-obscuring walls yesterday,” Freya pointed out.  She lifted the menu as the voice on the other end asked her a question.  “Yes, we will, thanks.  No, I’ll come get it.  Great, I will.  Bye.”  She set the vox down.  “Food’ll be ready in half an hour.”

“Superb.”  Alex kicked back in his own chair, swigging his sparkling water.  “So…is it time?”

“I believe it is,” Remilia said, sitting down across from Jake.  “Well…Happy Birthday,” she said, passing him a card.

“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, guys, is it guilt trip time already…oh my,” Jake said, upon seeing the store printed on the card.  “…Good call.  This will get spent within seconds of arriving on Terran soil, I assure you,” he said.  “Keller’s Electronics is the best retail electronics chain in the Solar system.”  He spotted the amount and nearly gagged, but kept his sudden reluctance suppressed.  This was probably only a week’s allowance for her.  “Thank you so much, Remilia.”

The pretty blond grinned happily.  “I knew you’d like it.”

“Am I up?” Alex asked.  He slid a tiny grey box across the table.  “Eyes sharp, now.”

“Eyes…oh.”  Jake didn’t even open the box, instead sliding it neatly into his lap.  “Indeed.  The pact is sealed.”

“What?” Venus asked, eyeing them both curiously.  They turned to give her a solemn look.

“He has passed along powerful knowledge I cannot share with you.  Trust me.  All will become clear,” Jake said gravely.

Venus looked from one stone-faced teen to the other.  “…Did I just witness a drug deal?”

“Oh no no, nothing illicit,” Alex said hastily.  “Just private.  Also,” he added, sliding a much larger box over to his friend.  “I saw this and knew.”

“Oh yeah, you did,” Jake said, prying it open.  A brand new vox sat inside, cushioned in a wide-brimmed hat that Jake suspected would fit him perfectly.  “Excellent.  Thanks, Alex.”

“Enjoy,” Alex said, sitting back in his seat.

Freya nearly slammed a black leather case on the table.  “I think this will come in handy if we can’t find what I think we might find on the Tide on the next leg of the road trip,” she said eagerly.

“Excellent!” Jake laughed, flipping the metal latches on the case open.  “This is perfect!”  Inside was a dice set, two shrink-wrapped packs of cards, and six full sets of clay playing chips.  “Oh, fantastic.  Freya, this is awesome.”

“I suspected you’d like it,” Freya happily said.  “The trip will be more fun with me cleaning you guys out every night.  I mean, playing every night.”

“Hurr hurr.”  Jake closed the case and slid it under his seat.  “Well I love it.  Thanks.”

Venus leaned over to him and passed him a small stone box.  “And here’s where I was this morning,” she said.  Jake opened the box –

“It’s beautiful!” he breathed.  He reached in and extracted a gold wristwatch.  He held it up to the light and the alloyed gold band glimmered under the lights and Venus’ proud stare.  “Venus, this is amazing.  Did you make this entire thing yourself?” he asked.

“No, no, of course not, watchmaking goes straight over my head,” she assured him.  “All I made was the wristband, the chain, the clip, and the stone’s setting.”

“What stone?” he asked.  He turned the watch over.  “Oh.  It’s awesome!” he exclaimed.  Venus had cut a tiny channel down the back of the Catseye and set the buckle of the wristband into it, so it covered the buckle slightly.  A tiny hinge set into the bottom of the stone allowed the wearer to turn the stone slightly and fasten the band on under it, then move it back into place and clip it to a tiny clasp on the prong of the buckle, giving the illusion that the stone was holding it in place.  “You made this too?” he asked.  Also in the box were a length of gold chain, a small clip, and a pack of atomic batteries.

She demonstrated how to remove the back panel of the watch and slide the battery in, and how to remove the band and attach the chain or clip instead.  Jake stared at it, entranced.  “It’s magnificent, Venus!  Thank you so much,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.  “I have to be wearing this when I get home!  Dad would love to see this, his father made watches in his free time at the Seminary.”

“Cool,” Venus said.  “I hope you like it.  I remembered that Catseye is your birthstone.”

“June…yeah, Catseye.  Awesome,” he said, staring at the glittering band.  The watch itself was blank save the hands and a single tiny quartz embedded where the 12 would be.  “Is this…wait, is this Terran or Nocturnean time?” he asked.

“Terran,” Venus said.

“Wow.  Wow.”  Jake slid it on and fastened it.  “I love it.  Is it set?”

“No, but you can set it to your vox,” Venus pointed out.

“True.”  He did so, then held it to his ear and smiled as he heard the tiny mechanism turning.  “Thank you, baby.”

Freya waited until the exchange was over before tapping her present.  “All right…you want to break in these cards?” she asked.

“Hell yeah,” Jake said, putting the watch accessories back in the box.  “But not until after we eat, I think.  Don’t want to get them greasy.”

“True facts,” Freya said, standing up.  “I’ll go get it.”

She walked out of the room, stopping to grab an ID card and a money chip before she did.  As she left the suite, she heard Remilia duck into her own room.