Editing HS40K (section)

==Chapter Three==

[[Image:Uponahillnowpost.jpg|right|thumb|350px|"It sure is a clear night." "Hyess. Eeet syure ees."]]

"It sure is a clear night."

"Hyess. Eeet syure ees."

They were lying next to each other on the flat top of the battered old yellow Landraider. Scout Marine stared up at the stars and thought furiously. They'd kissed at the end of the first date. Well, more or less.

To be more precise, they'd made nervous small-talk on the ride home from the movie. Then, when he pulled to the curb outside her dad's trailer, they'd awkwardly pressed their lips together. They...missed, sort of, so that he wound up kissing her right below her nose. She snorted, which tickled his lips, and then they both giggled nervously. He was about to try again when Abaddon came out of the trailer in a wifebeater and underpants, holding a half-empty bottle of cheap amasec, and yelling at Cultist-chan for forgetting to pick up his Lho sticks. She'd given Scout a sorry look, and hurried inside.

But the second date had gone great so far. He'd picked her up Saturday afternoon at 2, after enduring a rant from Angry Marine about being careful with his Landraider...as if a few more scratches and dents would matter, the way Angry drove.

They'd gotten to the zoo just in time to see the Carnifex feeding. She laughed her head off to hear the homeless people scream as they were messily devoured. He laughed when she told him the story of how her dad got drunk and climbed into the Unyuufex enclosure and had his arms hugged off. He bought her a little plush ripper doll, and they held hands as they walked down the path. They stood in the fungal grove and smiled at each other while warty balls with legs and teeth hunted each other through the mushrooms and a naked Ork banged on the bars of his cage and yelled for someone to let him out before he was late for work. They kissed again. He got his aim right that time, and they stood pressed together for a moment in the shade, until she startled him by running her tongue playfully along his lips. She cackled when he jumped in surprise, and ran away down the path. He laughed, and ran after her.

They went to a cheap Tau place for dinner. He hadn't thought he liked sushi, but when they started daring one another to add more and more wasabi he found himself having a great time, even when his eyes started watering and his oral acid gland rebelled. He sneezed on the table, dissolving a hole clear through it. Cultist-chan had given him a conspiratorial look and put her plate over the hole. He'd thrown some Thrones down on the table, and the two of them had hurried out to the parking lot, stifling laughter.

[[Image:cult1.jpg|left|thumb|350px|]]

About halfway through the movie, he'd gotten up his nerve to put his arm around her and gotten his sleeve caught on her spikes. She laughed as she helped him untangle it, then they kissed again and he put his hand on her leg. Emperor, he couldn't for the life of him remember what the movie had been about.

And now here they were, on top of the Landraider, on a hill, with the lights of the town below them and the stars of the galaxy above.

Was it rushing it? Was it time?

He heard Cultist-chan move in the darkness beside him. She rolled over and pressed against his side, laying her head on his shoulder.

He lifted his head and kissed her.

She pulled away and sat up. He rose and put his arm around her. He realized she was shivering.

"Cultist-chan? Are you cold? Do you want to go inside?"

"Eeet ees hokay."

He smiled in the darkness. "Come here. Let me keep you warm."

He held her close, breathing in her smell. Smoke from her dad's Lho sticks. Incense from profane rites. Some kind of shampoo. God-Emperor, he wanted to purge her so bad. She had stopped shivering, and turned her head to kiss his neck. He gasped as she gently nibbled him. He slipped a hand up her tattered shirt, and she murmured. He pulled away. She pulled back and looked at him.

He realized there were tears in her eyes.

"Eeeets hokay," she whispered. "Hyoo can purge us eef hyoo want too. Whatever hyoo desire..."

"I...um, I don't..." He stammered.

She smiled ruefully, and pointed down between his legs. He looked down. The bulge of the bolt pistol in his pocket was painfully obvious.

He looked back up at her. She was smiling, but tears were rolling down her face.

"Um...Cultist-chan, are you really sure about this?"

"Hyess. Hyoo made us feeel speshul. Hyoo made us happy. Heet is what hyoo wanted, hyess?"

She lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips to his neck again. Her hand was on his, guiding it to the bolter in his pocket. There was a roaring in his ears. He barely heard her whisper, "Heet was niice while heet laasteed..."

He shook his head, grabbed her shoulders, and pushed her away from him. "What are you talking about? It's not over!"

She smiled at him sadly. "Heet ees hokay. Hwee know that tomorrow, hyoo weel go to hyoor friends and tell them hyoo purged me, hand they wheel give hyoo the high fhives, and then hyoo go bach to hyoor friends hand hwee go back to ours. After hwee get out of thee hospital."

Scout Marine felt his mouth hanging open. "What? Why would you think that?"

She frowned, and turned her face away from him. "Dat's hjust how eet werks. Hevery tyme."

"You've...you've been purged before?"

She took his hand in hers, and guided it under her shirt. He felt soft skin...then something else. Scar tissue. An old las burn.

[[Image:cult2.png|right|thumb|350px|"You've...you've been purged before?"]]

"All thee boys say hwee are an easy purge, hyess? Heet ees hokay. At leest...At leest hwee..." Her shoulders started shaking, and she began to sniffle.

Scout looked at her. Her hair shone in the starlight, against the stark profile of the Chaos spikes behind her head. She looked up at him. Tears ran from her eyes.

She gave him a sad, snaggle-toothed smile. Suddenly, he knew his duty.

"Cultist-chan..."

She sniffled.

"Cultist-chan, please go to prom with me!"

Her jaw dropped open. He pulled her to him and hugged her tight.

"Will you, Cultist-chan? Please?"

"Whatever hyoo...desire..." She threw her head back and cried.