Editing Venus' Burn (section)

==The Seventh Part==


“AGH FUCK…Taxi you dumb slut, get back in the house!” she yelled, stumbling over the dog.  The dog ignored her completely, launching itself into my car and ramming its nose into my ear.  I shouted in surprise and rolled out of the driver’s seat onto the driveway, as the dog made itself comfortable on the passenger’s seat.

Venus groaned in frustration, grabbing the dog’s collar and wrapping an arm under its back, lifting it bodily out.  She dumped it unceremoniously on the pavement as I slammed the doors shut.  She squatted down and grabbed the dog’s collar, shaking it a bit and glaring at it.  “No.  Bad.  You hear me?  Bad.”  The dog took off, running around the house in circles.  Venus sighed.  “Fucking mutt.”

“Enthusiastic little guy, isn’t he?” I asked, wondering how long it would take to get all the hair out of the seats.

“Colossal pain in the backside,” she grumbled.  She shut the car door and walked up to the door, glancing around for her parents’ cars.  “Huh.  Dad must have already left.”

“That could be good,” I said, walking in after her.

“What do you mean?” Venus asked, clearly surprised.

“Well, you’ve already showered, right?” I asked, making for the stairs.

“Yeah, what does that have to do with Dad?”

“We wouldn’t want him asking why you’re having another,” I reasoned, climbing up to the top floor behind her.

“I’m not…oh.”  She paused on the top step, before resuming as if I hadn’t implied a damn thing.

“You’re not morally opposed to the idea of two showers in one morning, are you?” I asked, reaching up to slide my hand around her waist.

“Suddenly, no,” she admitted with a smile.

One completely awesome half an hour later, I grabbed my clothes off the laundry servitor’s tray and pulled them back on, brushing dryer lint off the sleeves of my school uniform.  Venus was still in the bathroom, so I headed down to the ground floor, snagging my day clothes out of the back of my car.  When I got back in, though, I found the kitchen occupied.  Misja was sitting at the counter, reading some mail, and looked up when I walked in.  “Hello, Misja,” I said cordially, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

“Hi, Jake,” she said distractedly.  “Get here OK?”

“Yeah, I did, thanks.  My skin still crawls when I fly over the turrets,” I said ruefully.

“Yes, well, as long as you call ahead if you’re using any car other than your normal one,” she said, thumbing through a magazine, “you should be fine.”

“Right.”  I struggled with words for a moment, then decided to pass the buck.  If Venus wanted to talk about what happened, she could do it herself.  I headed back up to replace Venus in the bathroom, getting into something a little more comfortable than my school uniform.  Why I even wore it to Venus’ house, I’ll never remember.

Business accomplished, I lounged on the couch of the house, wondering distantly when it had become so familiar.  Hell, I’d only been there, what, five times total?  Venus walked back down the stairs, in her jogging outfit, towel slung over her shoulders, her hair glistening as the light caught the last of the water.  She sighted me and smiled.  “Hey.  Want to go for a run?”

I smiled back, tugging my shoes back on.  “Love to.  Is your Mom OK with stuff?”

“Yeah, we talked it over.  I decided I might do something nice for your parents if I get the chance.”  She grabbed a green bundle of fabric off of a peg by the door, fiddling with it as I zipped my jacket.

“Well, the first thing they’ll tell you is that it’s unnecessary, but I know they’d appreciate actual food.  The crap we get in the hive is nothing compared to what you guys get out here.”

“Yeah, I noticed.  Maybe a trip to the market after we get back,” she mused.

“I mean, if you get the kind of soylens that they actually flavor, and you cook it properly, you can take one bite and know ‘yes, this is indeed a Food of a kind,’ and nothing more,” I continued.  “Like the Goo at school.  You eat it, and it’s Food.  It’s a thing you eat.  It’s not a meal.  It’s like…you’re hungry, and you want Food.”  She snorted under her breath at that image.  She unfurled the fabric ball to reveal a green bandana in a drakeskin pattern, tying it around her neck and pulling it over her black hair.

No, I noticed, not drakeskin-patterned, it was ACTUAL drakeskin.  That bandana cost more than my car.  I stared at it, then shook myself before she noticed.  “Nice bandana.  Real drake?”

“Yeah, it attacked the Librarium on Nocturne last time Dad went home, so he killed it and brought a chunk back as a trophy, because that’s what normal people do when they get attacked by animals, Dad,” she said, adding the last part in an exasperated aside.  “He gave some to me.  Here,” she said, untying it and tossing it over.  “Feel.”

I ran my fingers over it, feeling the tiny ridges at the edge of each scale, marveling at how flexible it was.  “Wow.  Is this stuff really fire-proof?”

“Yep.  Dad has one that can withstand warp-flame.”  I stepped over behind her and tied the bandana around her head like she did, then ran my hands down her arms.

“So…where do you want to go?” I asked, squeezing her hands.  She considered for a moment, then tugged loose, pointing broadly at the far edge of the yard.

“Well, I usually do about eight laps, but if you want to do less, we can,” she said, opening the door as Taxi barreled past.

“What’s that, nineteen klicks?  Way too much for me, thanks.  Right now, anyway,” I said, grinning.

“Oh, have you already had a workout today?” she asked innocently, batting her eyes at me.  I shrugged.

“Well, I guess not.”  She gaped at me in mock indignation.

“Well!  Then I guess I’ll just have to be the one setting the pace today, won’t I?”

Well, I tried.  I really did.  But as it turns out, she could hold a military 120 paces a minute for about eight kilometers longer than I could.  The first time she made it past me she just lapped me, grinning wanly.  The second time she just slowed down, since I was just walking at that point.

The sun was beating down us from every angle, glinting off the matte walls of the hive, and I could feel my skin starting to crisp.  After all, you spend your entire life in the hive and an hour outside feels like an hour in a tanning salon.

“Hey, just wondering, but since we’re out here, what else do you do out in the district?” I asked, wondering if I could discreetly cut the exercise session short.

“Looking to explore?” she asked.  “Well, not much out here, but in the actual town, there’s…well, a couple stores, but mostly just residential.”

“Where do the people who live out here who aren’t military work?” I asked.  “The school has, what, four thousand students?  I’m one of maybe eight hivers.”

“Well, everybody’s either military or nobility out here, not many people work at all.  The people who operate the stores in town are commuting hivers, most of them.  Plus the old guard,” she said, passing me a water bottle.  I took a slug and passed it back, shaking my head.

“What do you mean, old guard?”

“The people who lived here before the town and the hive were built.  Most of the people who lived here sold their land at enormous gains, ‘cuz they were going to make the hive nearby and all the rich folks wanted to live outside,” she said.  “Some didn’t.  Some of the families here have been here for over four thousand years.”

“…Fuck, talk about pedigree,” I said, trying to wrap my head around that.  I stopped under the copse of trees at the edge of the yard, and sank down onto the wrought-iron bench, panting a bit.  Now, I’m no fat sack of shit, but I’m also not an athlete, and running under an actual sun takes it out of you in a way hivers like me just aren’t built for.  Venus paused her own run to smirk.

“Hot?”

“Yes, yes I am, and damn your orbital flame sphere kindly,” I said, slugging another mouthful of water.  “Just give me a sec.”  I took a deep breath and drank again, glancing at my watch.  Still only noon?  Felt later than that to me.

“So, really, do you want to take a break?” she asked, dropping down on the bench next to me.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said, leaning back on the bench.  Venus made to sit down next to me when something small and fast barreled out of nowhere to land on my leg.  I jerked my head back and stared, completely not comprehending what was happening.

A tiny animal hopped onto my knee, its head darting from side to side.  I froze, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.

“It’s a chickadee, Jake,” Venus said, smiling benignly at the horrifying creature in my lap.

“It’s…come for my blood,” I said, staring at the feathery…thing.

“It’s a fucking bird,” she giggled, then quieted up when she realized I had never seen one before.  “They’re completely harmless.”

“They’re daemonic messengers,” I said, flicking my hand at it.  It launched into the air like a seeker missile, and I stared at it until it faded into the distance.

“You didn’t think Taxi was scary,” Venus pointed out, grinning.

“I’ve seen dogs.  Shit, compared to the ones Freya’s got, your dog is tiny.”  I stood back up, starting back towards the house at a jog.

“That’s because Uncle Leman brought them from Fenris,” Venus said.  The familiar sight of the house loomed over us.  We ran the rest of the way back in relative quiet, with nothing but the sound of our breath breaking the silent air.  When we arrived, I noted a new aircar in the driveway: Vulkan’s.  Venus pointed at it a second after I saw it.

“Good, Dad’s home now.”  Venus stopped me before I walked in.  “Jake, I know you don’t like it when I offer to cover stuff, but I would feel bad if I didn’t offer to make it up to your parents.  So, let me offer.  OK?  I insist.”

“Then go ahead,” I said, conceding the point.  I pushed the door open and walked in after her, noting Vulkan moving around the kitchen.

“Hi Dad,” Venus called, wandering on over.

“Hey, Venus.  Hi, Jake,” Vulkan said, rummaging in the fridge.

“Listen, Dad, um…I want to tell you this now, so you have no grounds for saying ‘nobody ever tells me anything’ later,” Venus said.  Vulkan slowly straightened up, with a look of death forming around him like a physical aura.

“Tell me what, exactly?” he asked ominously.

“I…well, I called home last night to say I felt shitty, right?  Well, I wound up staying the night, and this morning…um, I used Jake’s apartment’s entire water ration in my shower,” Venus confessed.  “I didn’t even know they had rationing in the hive.”

“I see.”  Vulkan nodded slowly, his stance relaxing.  “What are you going to do about it?”

Venus glanced at me quickly.  “Well, I offered to pay for the day’s rations, but it turns out you can’t buy more, so…I don’t know.  I guess…Jake, how do they decide who gets how much water?”

“Dependents,” I said.  “Take number of people registered to the apartment tag, subtract a constant times the number of people with jobs or school who aren’t around the house all day.  Multiply by one person’s water allotment.  That’s all there is to it.”

“Oh.”  She thought for a moment.  “Then…maybe I could take your family out to dinner?  I mean, I feel awful about this, and I don’t want your Dad to resent me more.”  I closed my eyes for an instant, fighting down my irritation at her assuming Dad still resented her at all.

“I’m sure they would refuse unless you insisted, but if you did, they’d be honored.  And Dad does NOT resent you,” I said, cutting Vulkan off before he could ask the obvious question.

“All right, then.  Let them know that I do insist.”  Vulkan nodded once.

“Good.”  He glanced over at me as he turned back to his food.  “Jake, do you have a second?  I wanted to ask you something.”

Venus took the hint and wandered off to the dining room while Vulkan offered me a soda.  I took it and tried to ignore my slowly cramping stomach.

“Jake, I want you to understand that you don’t have to answer this.  Have you considered joining the Army?”  I blinked at the completely unexpected question.

“Sure I have.  I decided against it.  I have no interest in the military lifestyle.  I’m really more into designing and building stuff,” I said, truthfully enough.

Vulkan nodded again.  “I assume you know the Mechanicum sends enginseers into the field, or to bases, all the time.”

“Of course I do, sir.”  I shook my head, staring at the unopened soda in my hand.  “It’s not me.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know what you wanted to do,” he pointed out.

“I don’t know exactly where I wind up, and I may not get a choice…but I know what I don’t want,” I said, “and I don’t want to be in the military.  The Army still has the reg on the books that all non-combatants must be able to drop whatever they’re doing and get shipped off to the front whether they’re qualified for it or not, and that simply isn’t acceptable to me.”  I narrowed my eyes and stared right back.  “Why do you ask, sir?”

“Well…to be honest, I have no idea what you plan to do after school ends, and I want to know,” he said evenly.  “And stop calling me that, PLEASE.  I get that enough at work, I don’t need it in my own house.  Just…call me Vulkan, it’s the only name I have that you could pronounce.”

I noted the sudden shift in formality with some surprise.  “All right then…Vulkan.”  Man did THAT take some getting used to.  “So…out of curiosity, what answer were you expecting?”

“I was half expecting you say you had, just so you could stay with her,” he said, assembling his meal and picking up a tray.  “I didn’t have a preferred answer.”

“Good.  Well, I don’t think my parents would be put off by her offering to take us out to dinner as a make-up.”  I guess Venus was either eavesdropping or heard the change in my tone, because she came walking back in.

“Dad, did you hear back from FleetCom?  Are you going to have to go to Corlsic?” she asked, as I quietly returned my unopened soda.  Water’s better after a run anyway.

“Yeah, apparently the Navy has it under control and I’m not needed at all,” Vulkan said.  “Which is perfect.  I have so much backlogged administrative garbage to work through.”  He hefted the tray of food and made for the stairs.  “I’ll be in the study.”

“You have a small army of PAs who would be happy to do the paperwork for you, Dad,” Venus reminded him.

“And they don’t all have my clearance level,” he shot back, vanishing up the stairs.  Venus huffed.

“Workaholic.”  She grabbed a glass and filled it, eyeing me.  “What did you two talk about.”

“I…have no idea,” I said.  “He asked me if I was interested in joining the Army…but I think he was fishing for how serious we are.”

“What?” she thought that one over.  “Weird.  He can hear a conversation in the basement from the roof.  He knows EXACTLY how serious we are.”  I exhaled about half my water through my nose in horror and stared at her, about a thousand horrible things happening in my mind at once.

She broke down in laughter, setting her glass on the counter so she didn’t drop it in hysterics.  “OH MY FUCK, oh the look on your FACE…ah hahahahaha oh…oh, man, that was worth it.  You OK?  You need to refill?”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, drying my face and shirt off with the towel.  “I look like I walked through a rainstorm now.”

“Hee hee hee HA HA HA HA,” she dissolved again, slapping her hand on the counter in mirth, nearly doubling over.  When she had calmed down enough to talk again, she shook her head, wiping a tear from her eye.  “Seriously, though, I was kidding, he can’t do that.”

“I god damn hope not,” I muttered.  “I have little enough privacy in the hab.”

“Yeah.”  She waved off the last of her giggles.  “So, where do you want to go tonight?”

“Uh, to be honest, I think I need to wrap up the Warp Studies project,” I said ruefully.  “It’s due…what, Tuesday?”

“I meant to dinner.”

“Oh, you wanted to take us out tonight?” I asked in surprise.

“Why not?  You won’t have water to cook with,” she reminded me.

“Oh…uh, well…what exactly did you have in mind?” I asked, deciding I wasn’t going to get any more water out of my shirt.

“Whatever restaurant you have in mind.”

“I dunno, there’s actually not many nice restaurants in our hab.”  I thought for a moment.  “How formal do you want it to be?”

“Formal?” she asked drily.

“OK…well, to be honest, I think something simple and straightforward would work best.  If you offer to take us someplace incredibly upscale, Mom and Dad will feel like they owe YOU now.  Just…well, there’s a really good restaurant we used to go to all the time before I went to school out here.  That sound OK?”

“Sure.  You can drive us there?” she asked.  “And what time?”

“Uh, pick us up at 5:30?” I opined.  I glanced at the clock, working the times out.  I should be done with the homework by then.

“All right.  What’s this place like?”

“A tiny little place, one Cube over from ours.  Dad used to work near there.  It’s got an offworld trade license, so they can get all sorts of spices and such you can’t get in most hives.”

“You sure you don’t want to eat a place that has actual food?  Out here, it’s honestly around the same price as some restaurants in the hive,” Venus pointed out, dropping onto the couch.

“If you say so…what were you thinking of?” I asked.

She offered a calculating little smile.  “I have a place in mind…I think you’ll love it.”

Okay, she wanted to keep a secret.  I could live with that.  “All right…so, 1730.  I’ll be ready.”

We just watched TV for a few hours, before I headed home and started in on my homework.  I managed to convince Mom and Dad to go along with the suggestion easily enough, though I think I had called it when I said both of them would resent being over-compensated.  I finished the assignment at around 1700, and I was just getting up to get ready for dinner when the bell rang.  By the time I was in the front room, Venus was already inside, talking with Mom and Dad.  She interrupted herself to greet me.

“Hey, Jake.  Sorry I’m early.  I never know when to leave to get here,” she said apologetically.  She certainly wasn’t dressed for anything special, just a fleece jacket over a tee and jeans.

“No problem, I just finished the assignment.  That class…” I shook my head ruefully.  “If only Miranda didn’t apply to the grade curve.”

“Or, better yet,” Venus started.

“That it didn’t apply to her,” I finished the old joke, chuckling.  Venus laughed too, though my parents just looked baffled.  I caught Dad’s eye.  “It’s probably best that you not know.”

“O…kay,” he said.  “So, where is this place?”

“It’s Montegreens’, a nice little place I used to go a lot when I was younger.  It’s not a reservations kind of a place,” Venus said, dropping onto the tiny sofa I had slept on the previous night.  “It’s a sit-down.”

“Outside the hive?” Dad asked.

“Yep.”  Venus suddenly frowned.  “That’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, no, of course not,” Dad hastened to assure her.  “I’ve been outside before.”

“Great.”  Venus checked her watch.  When she lifted it to the light, I noticed a tiny drake’s head on the band.

“Hey, is that one of yours too?” I asked, gesturing at the watch.

“Sure is,” she said proudly.  She unclasped it and handed it over.  “That one took waaaay too long.  I had to redo the casing twice.  Cracks in the battery cover.”

“You make your own jewelry?” Mom asked.

“Yep.  Well, the simple stuff,” Venus said, shrugging.  “Furniture too.  Compared to the stuff Dad makes, this is smalltime.”

“Impressive,” Dad said, eyeing the watch.  I handed it back, reading it quickly.  It was much earlier than she had planned on arriving, so we sort of gravitated over to the tiny kitchen/dining room.

“Venus, what do you plan on doing after you graduate?” Dad asked, sitting at the table.

“Oh, college.  After that, I really don’t know beyond that I’d like to do SOMETHING,” She said, shucking her fleece and draping it over the chair.  “I can’t stand the thought of idleness.  What I know I want to do, at some point, is go home to Nocturne.  I’d love to actually go back some day.”

“What’s Nocturne?” Dad asked.

“My home planet,” Venus said.  “Dad’s too, technically.  The Salamander Fortress is on its moon.  I moved when I was too young to remember it.  I want to go back and see it for myself some day.”

“I imagine.  What kind of world is it?”

“Volcanic-type Death World,” Venus supplied.  “Perfect training grounds.  Or so I’m told.”

“…Wow.  Is that…normal, for an Astartes training world?” Mom asked.

“No, most of them are either paradise worlds or urban worlds, but the Salamanders think that if a recruit can’t survive their own planet’s geology, they’ve got no business wearing the colors.”  Venus shrugged.  “I kind of agree.”

“That’s pretty ruthless, though, isn’t it?” Mom pressed.

“How is it ruthless?  If you can’t train your men to survive a little fire and radiation, they sure aren’t going to be leading the pack,” Venus said, waving her hand.  “Not every soldier or Marine can be the greatest, but they ALL need to be able to keep up in a furball, and they ALL need to be able to carry out an objective if they lose somebody on the way there.  It’s one thing to use the Emperor’s gifts to help and protect the weak, it’s another entirely to permit weakness in yourself and your brothers.”  Venus suddenly smiled wryly.  “At least that’s what Dad told me when I asked him the same question.”

“Well…that’s pragmatic, I guess.”  Mom looked to be thinking her answer over.

I have to admit, though, I understood.  I’m just glad that Vulkan had the foresight to make the distinction between his work discipline and his home discipline.  Certainly, from what the rumor mill has told me, Venus’ cousins weren’t all so lucky.

Well, that was by no means the conversation I’d been hoping we would have had that night, but it was helpful.  I think Mom at least was starting to look at Venus more as just ‘Jake’s girlfriend’ than ‘third-generation royalty.’  Funny how it didn’t start until we’d already had her over twice.

When 5:30 rolled around, we headed out to the car, which Dad insisted on driving for who knows what reason.  Venus, with a sly smirk at me, tapped in the directions, and we were off, with Mom and Dad trying not to look like they were taking in the sights of being outside the hive and not even coming close.  I drove over it on every trip to school, of course, but I had never seen the town in the district before.  It was something to see, once we parked and got out.  I didn’t think we’d have drawn much attention, but we were visibly the best dressed people there, or my parents were at least.  I had sort of gleaned that this was to be a casual thing, and had dressed as such.

The outside was still amazing to me, even after four years.  The air was kind of flat, not as much as in the hive, but still artificial.  Obviously, it had to be; it all came out of the same filters, but the fact that there were actual plants out here made all the difference.  The shield over the sky was transparent, so you could see wending lines of light from ships overhead, and the light from aircars heading in from the manors.

I was surprised by the people, too.  Most, if not all, of the people I saw of my own age were decorated with all manner of flesh-bonded augmetics.  Eyes, wrists, all sorts.  They were flesh-bonded, of course, so they looked like normal skin, but I saw them open their wrist panels to check the time or acknowledge a message with a regularity that creeped me out.

The town was tiny, I realized.  It had a grocery store, and a few other shops, but the thing that stood out was the square.  It had an actual square.  I had never seen that before.  It was bordered by an Enforcer station on one side, a handful of restaurants on another, and what parkland on the other two.  We walked past it on the way to Montegreens’, and I was probably staring as much as Dad and Mom were.

“…Wow.  I should find reasons to come out here more often,” Dad said.

“It’s certainly different from inside the Hive, isn’t it?” Venus commented.

“Why don’t hivers come out here more often?” I asked.

“Well, some just can’t.  There’s no public transit line out of the hive, I don’t think,” Venus said.

“That’s right, there isn’t.  I remember what a stink they raised when that was announced,” Dad said.  “People wanted to be able to come out here whenever they wanted.”

“Well, you can, you just have to fly yourself,” I said.  “I never get any shit for being from the hive here, except from some of the people at school.”

“Who?” Venus asked in surprise.

“Eh, that group of idiots in Chem class,” I said dismissively.  “Nobody I’ve ever seen you hang out with.”

“Huh.”  Venus looked ahead in the square and pointed.  “There it is.”

The building she had indicated was a little concrete structure that looked older than the hive, though I suspected that that was just an affectation.  There was a little neon sign over the door that glowed OPEN, and the sign above that was lit by faint bulbs, circling the name Montegreens’ in blue.

Venus pushed the door open, and the smell of something mouthwatering wafted out.  I followed her in, taking stock of the place.  It was roomy, with small tables clustered together in the middle, and booths along the outside wall.  A hostess was standing at a lectern next to the door, and smiled as we came in.

“Welcome to Montegreens’.  How many?”

“Four,” Venus said.  The hostess sighted her, taking stock of her appearance in an instant, her smile not wavering.

“Of course, ma’am.”  She led us to a booth in the farthest corner of the restaurant, with several of the diners staring and whispering, and at least as many hurriedly shushing their friends and family for their improprieties.

She sat us down and took orders, in a way that made me think that maybe our night would not end on solitude.  A few of the more insistent sightseers continued to gape at us until a few discreet glares from Venus sets their wandering eyes back on course.

Mom spoke up about it after the last incident.  “Do you have to put up with that every single time you go outdoors, Venus?”

“No, actually.  I guess I just haven’t been around in too long.”  Venus glanced around the place, nothing changes.  “It’s more or less the same place.  Menu’s gargantuan, which is just the way I like it.”

“Really?  Because every time we go to Moraza’s after school, you order the same thing,” I teased.

“But I like having the OPTION,” she said airily.  “That’s important.”

“Mm hmm.  Sure.  So, how did you know this place?” I asked.

“Dad took me here all the time when I was younger,” she explained.  “Which is funny since he’s actually less busy now.  You think the stares I get are bad…”

“How is he less busy?” I asked.  The waitress deposited a few sticks of something impossibly tasty in the basket in front of us, and I had to make a conscious effort to only take one.

“Well, the outer regions of the Imperium are way more secure now.  They don’t need Astartes to go out and handle problems as often as they used to,” Venus said, shrugging.  “That’s perfect, as far as I’m concerned.  Dad still gets the chance to go out in the field every so often, which he loves.”

“Did you ever consider joining the military yourself?” Dad asked.  Venus and I exchanged wry grins.

“Dad asked that of Jake this morning.  I’m no more interested than he is.  Military life just isn’t for me.  Besides,” she pointed out, “what officer would take responsibility for me?  If I got killed in action, then my CO would be the officer that let the daughter of a Primarch get shot.  Even if it wasn’t his fault, he’d be crucified in the media for negligence.  He’d have written the first four or five sentences of his own obituary.”

“I see.  Are any of your cousins planning on joining?” Dad asked.

“I dunno.  I haven’t asked.”  Venus leaned back as the waitress deposited the food.  “Excellent.”

“Oh…wow,” I said, staring at the food on the plate.  I couldn’t even identify some of it, I had just picked an item off of the menu at random.

“Mmm, good call.  I love carbonara,” Venus put in, digging in on her grox.  Mom and Dad seemed to have more experience than I did with outsider food, because they both started eating too.  After staring at my food, I tentatively started eating.

It was fucking delicious.  I stared at it for a moment, chewing with my eyes wide open.  Venus quirked an eyebrow.  “Is it not good?”

“It’s…awesome.”  I downed another forkful in one bite.  “What is it called?  I picked whatever I saw first.”

“Tortellini carbonara,” she said.  “You’ve had outside food before at the party, and at school, I thought,” she said, watching me wolf it down.

“Yeah, but not this,” I said.  Dad grabbed my elbow before I managed to upend the plate.

“Whoa, Jake, slow down.  Pace yourself.”

“Right.  Sorry, I must look like I’m at a trough or something.”

“Just so long as you don’t hurt yourself,” Venus laughed.  “We have this recipe at my house, I could have Mom make it next time you’re over.”

“Oh, well, you don’t have to do that.”  I ate a few more bites.  “I mean, you don’t HAVE to, but…”  Venus giggled again.

After the meal, we just sat around the table and chatted, and I honestly don’t think I’d ever seen Mom and Dad that relaxed around Venus before.  I wondered, distantly, if that had been part of the idea of coming to a place this informal.

“Did you pick a college for after graduation?” Dad asked as the waitress dropped off the check and another basket of fries for Venus.  Venus nearly grabbed the check before Dad’s hand could inch towards it.

“Yes, I’ve been accepted at Kouthry Tech.  Inorganic Chemistry,” she added, tucking a card into the check slot without even looking at it.

“Good school.  I’m sure you’ll do well there,” Dad said.  “I went to Canstrides Seminary, myself.”

“Oh, on Mars?  Nice,” Venus said.  “Right, of course, Jake told me about that.  A few of the Salamander Techmarines went there.”

“Yes, they had their own training chapel.”  Dad leaned back in his seat.  “Did you want to get a civilian job after graduation?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t think so,” Venus said, handing off the check to the waitress when she walked by next.  “I honestly don’t know what I want.”

“Well, you get to choose,” Dad said, nodding at his own wisdom.

I glanced at my own watch, noting that it was still quite early.  “Well, thank you.  This was great.”

“No problem at all, Jake, It was a lot of fun.”  Venus stood and stretched, slipping her fleece back on.  The three of us stood as she fished a pen out of her pocket and sketched a quick number on the gratuity line of the check.

As we headed for the door, though, I saw one of the people at the table near the exit stir, tapping a stylus on a dataslate he had been reading as soon as Venus walked by.  Venus visibly tensed when she saw it, but said nothing.  As soon as we were outside, though, we were accosted by a man carrying a holocam, who had apparently been lurking for some time.

“Lady Vulkan, what do you think about Proposition 17’s effect-” he started, hefting the camera.

“Fiat,” Venus said flatly, elbowing the man out of the way and making for the car at a brisk pace.

“Ma’am do you have a comment about the recent increase in-” he said before Venus apparently lost her patience.

She turned to us with a strained smile.  “Brace yourselves.”  She snapped her fingers once and the camera exploded, casting bits of its innards all over the hapless paparazzi.  He gasped and threw himself back a pace, glancing around wildly.  She turned back to the parasite, her lips a tight line of anger, and her eyes glowing balls of molten rage in the pseudo-night of the town.  “I…SAID…fiat.”  He took off, and she looked back to us, all anger gone.  “I apologize.  I should have warned you.  I thought those vermin knew better than to follow me around any more.”

“What…the hell just happened?” Dad asked, his hands still balled into fists.

“What happened is that some scum-sucking filth reporter forgot that there are penalties for trailing a Primarch’s daughter,” Venus said, her anger replaced by…remorse?  “And my bodyguard reminded him.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised there’s a Custodes protecting you,” I said, feeling the adrenaline work its way out of my fingers with a cold, spiky feeling.  I rubbed them together, trying to come down.

“Custodes?  No, a VIP Office rifleman.  You ever see a Custodian hide in a crowd?” Venus asked.  The welcoming profile of my car appeared on the edge of the lot, its door sliding open as Dad keyed the fob.  We clambered in, but as Dad reached for the autopilot, Venus held up a hand to stop him.
“Listen…I want to apologize.  It seems like…every time I try to enjoy a normal evening with you,” she said, gesturing at me as much as my parents, “something goes wrong.  I get sick, I use all your water, I have paparazzi problems…”

“I don’t blame you,” I said, before Mom or Dad could make soothing platitudes.  “You didn’t plan any of that.”

“Heh…no kidding.”  She shook her head, her black hair almost invisible against her fleece.  “Well…anyway.  Here.”  Venus tapped some coordinates into the autopilot, and the aircar lifted off.  “I still feel bad.  I never thought I’d have to put up with that trash again.”

“What’s that Fiat thing you mentioned?” I asked, trying to at least make her less morose.

“I don’t know if it’s public record or not, but…well,” Venus said, pulling herself away from her displeasure.  “Grandpa survived an assassination attempt from someone disguised as a paparazzi once.  He imposed a fiat that members of the Royal family can do more or less whatever we want to reporters that bother us,” she explained.  “I usually just scare the shit out of them.”

“And if...one DID turn out to be an assassin?” I asked.

“Then the bodyguards just shoot him,” Venus shrugged.  “You saw the guy in the restaurant?”

“Yeah.  Was he a spotter for the paparazzi?” I asked.

“No, he was a spotter for ME,” Venus said.  “He works for Dad.  That little thing he did with the dataslate was him letting me know the guy outside was going to jump us.”

The aircar dove, turning away from the skylane to the hive wall.  Dad blinked at the autopilot.  “Uh, Venus…this isn’t the way home.”

“No, I entered my own address, since I just got dropped off and didn’t have a ride home.”  Venus suddenly frowned.  “Is that a problem?  We can divert back to your place, and I can just have someone pick me up.”

“No, it’s fine, I just didn’t know,” Dad said.  The car swooped over the aristocratic district, and I watched the spectacle of the Primarch’s houses go by, each either impressive or restrained in their own ways.  Vulkan’s was the last one on the row, which I knew he liked, tucked between three hive walls.  The car slid down to the ground in the drive, and Venus climbed out, glancing over the cars in the drive beside ours.

“Another gathering?” I asked, climbing out after her.

“Yeah, Cora and Kelly are over tonight.”  After a second, she turned back to the car, rubbing her finger over her chin, thinking something over.  “You know…”

“What?”

“This may be the best time for your parents to meet mine,” she said contemplatively.

“Oh…boy,” I said, letting THAT little bombshell roll through my head.

“You disagree.”

“No, I…that’s the weird part, I actually agree,” I said.

“All right then,” Venus said, reopening her door and sticking her head in.  “Mr. Seager, Mrs Seager, why don’t you two come in and meet my parents?  I think this is the perfect opportunity.”

“Oh, no, thank you,” Mom said immediately, looking like the floor had dropped out from under her.  “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Venus said firmly.  “I promise.”  Well, she’s more or less intractable when she puts her mind to it.  My parents both finally acquiesced, following us meekly to the front door of the mansion.

Venus pulled the door open, and nearly got tackled by Cora.  “Hey, there you are!  Where have you been?” she demanded.

“Dinner with Jake and his parents,” Venus said, prying her cousin off.  “Is Dad home yet?”

“He’s right over there,” Cora said, jerking a thumb towards the sitting room.  She smiled at me and Mom and Dad, who were both taking it pretty well.  “Hey Jake, good to see you.”

“You too, Cora,” I said, glancing over at the side hall, where Misja was making her entrance.

“Venus!  My god, honey, are you OK?” she demanded, burying her daughter in a bear hug.

“Gurk…I’mfine geddoff me,” Venus said, making a show of pulling loose.  “I’m fine, it was just some dumbass reporter.  How did you find out so fast?”

“Sergeant Miller called it in, of course!” Misja said, turning to give me and my parents the once-over.  Satisfied that we, too, were still alive and unperforated, she turned her gaze back to her daughter, who was looking distinctly huffy.

“DAD, IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL OF ME TO ORDER VINNY TO THROW HIMSELF OFF A BRIDGE, RIGHT?” she called into the sitting room.

“YES,” Vulkan called back, over the sounds of several other people talking.

“JUST CHECKING,” she called back grumpily.

She turned to us and beckoned us in, out of the chill.  “Mom, this is George and Sandra Seager.  This is my mother, Misja.”

“It’s an honor,” Dad said, starting to bow before Misja stuck her hand out to shake.  He took it after a moment of hesitation.

“And this is my cousin, Cora, who is here crazy early,” Venus said, gesturing to her black-haired cousin.

“Well, Dad got home early, so we figured we’d just arrive,” Cora shrugged.  “You know, for dramatic effect.”

“Just as a change of pace,” Venus deadpanned.

“Right.”  Cora wandered back into the sitting room, while Misja continued fussing over her daughter.

“That hasn’t happened in a long time, has it?” Misja asked worriedly.

“Almost a year,” Venus said, pulling off her fleece.  “It was me last time, too, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” Misja said.  She shook her head angrily, trying to put down bad memories.

For a moment, I though Venus’ hastily-concocted plan to make my parents start to recognize her family as being just as human as mine was actually going to work.  Then, of course, Vulkan walked in.

“Hey, kiddo, glad you dealt with that so well,” he said, walking in from the sitting room.  He leaned over to hug Venus quickly, before reaching over to shake my hand too.  “Sorry your pleasant evening took a turn,” he said drily.

“It was mostly worth it, actually, Sir…Vulkan, sorry.  I should make a point of eating out of the hive more often if it’s always that good,” I said with a laugh, delighting in the open shock on Mom and Dad’s faces.

“To be honest, it’s kind of hit-or-miss,” he said with a chuckle.  “Then again, I’m a picky eater if ever there was one.”

“No!” Venus said in mock surprise.  She turned to Mom and Dad and made a half-hearted shrug.  “So…Dad, these are George and Sandra Seager.  I assume you know who Dad is.”

“It’s…a true honor to be here, my Lord,” Dad managed, bowing at the waist, as did Mom.

Vulkan rubbed his eyes patiently.  “Please, stand straight.  I make it a point of not being referred to formally in my own home.”  He turned to Venus, his posture growing a bit strained.  “We’ll discuss Sergeant Miller’s report later.  Please,” he said, gesturing to us, “come on in.  I’m glad to have the chance to meet you in person.”

Before Mom or Dad could come up with a reason to say no, I had already walked in, making straight for where Cora was devouring an orange on the counter.  Misja worriedly glanced me over as I walked by, and I angled in a bit closer.

“Just an overzealous paparazzi.  Nobody got hurt,” I said softly.

“I know, but damn it, she’s my daughter,” Misja said angrily.  I immediately put my hands up in defense.

“I didn’t mean-”

“I’m sorry.  It’s not you that pissed me off,” Misja said, lowering her own voice in contrition.  “Venus was really looking forward to tonight.  She just wanted an opportunity to get off on the right foot with your parents.  She was miserable over this morning,” she said.  A look of frustration came over her youthful features as she stared at her daughter.  “I’m glad you came by, though.  We’re happy to have you.”

“I’m glad to be here,” I said automatically.  “And…Venus and I think this is the best chance we’ll get to have you and my parents meet.  Mom especially would just find a way to avoid it.  They’re scared of embarrassing you, or something.”

“Oh.  Well, I don’t blame them, but that’ll end fast,” she said, finding some solace in levity.

I don’t know why I did what I did next.  I guess I was just trying to help.  Maybe I was just a little scared too.  Maybe I was just exhausted.  But, for whatever it was, I leaned forward and quickly hugged Misja.  “I’ll make sure she’s happy.  Don’t worry about her.”

Misja gaped at me for an instant, before hurriedly brushing something out of her eye and walking quickly over to the sitting room, muttering.  “I’m sure you will, Jake.”