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canyouhearthelight · 4 years

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The Miys, Ch. 101

Apologies for the delays....I scheduled this 3 weeks ago to post today, but apparently technical difficulties have occurred. So. Shout out to @baelpenrose and @zommbiebro who blew up my PMs when the chapter did not go up at the regularly scheduled time. Y’all saved me, I swear.

As always, after an arc, we get... FLUFF! Please enjoy!

“Are you sure you want to do vegetarian hot pot?” Zach wheedled. It was a week after Jokul’s meeting with the Council, and while there was still some work to be done with some straggling members of the accidental cult, things had largely calmed down. As such, I was taking Huynh’s suggestion and eating in one of the mess areas closer to my office.

“I may do one veg and one non-veg.” I bit my lip as I thought about it. We were discussing an upcoming ‘family dinner’, where I had decided to branch out into unfamiliar territory. No date for it was set in stone, but I wanted to make sure to get all the details ironed out ahead of time. “Vegetarian just feels safer, if that makes sense? I feel a bit weird about including raw meat - I mean, what if the broth isn’t hot enough and someone gets food poisoning.”

Zach gaped at me, but Hannah cut him off by reaching gently for my hand. “Sophia. You know as well as I do that everything from the food consoles is synthetic, including the meat. So, technically, it’s all vegetarian and there’s no risk of foodborne illness.” Her tone was pleasant and even, and I was in no way oblivious to the fact that she was using her professional nurturer skills on me.

That did not change the fact that she had a point. “Fine,” I heaved a sigh in concession. “I still want them kept strictly separate, to avoid violating any religious taboos. I can still do that,” I insisted.

Hannah patted my hand in reassurance just as Zach’s head snapped around toward the entrance. “What in the world?” he asked, no longer paying attention.

As Hannah and I turned where he was focused, I noticed a few other people looking that direction with the same curious expression Zach had. I glanced at Hannah, who shook her head - she didn’t hear anything either, at first. After another minute, I could faintly hear shouting, and it got louder as it headed our direction.

By this point, more and more people in the cafeteria were staring toward the shouts, which were soon accompanied by the white noise of a crowd speaking. Whatever was happening had been going on for quite some time, and was going to pass directly past us. I swear on all that is unholy, I thought to myself, If this is another crisis, I will walk out an airlock willingly. No sooner had the thought finished than I saw a vaguely familiar face coming around the curve of the corridor. Standing and abandoning my lunch, I moved closer to confirm my suspicions.

Sure enough, a familiar smile bracketed in a thick, coarse beard beamed at me. Ivan Thorson was slightly shorter than I was, but at least as broad as he was tall and also cheerful carrying what appeared to be a stack of dark gray cloth. Horror dawned as he approached.

That stack of cloth was squirming. And kicking. And shouting. Even worse, I recognized that voice. Part of me wished I had just ignored everything and finished my lunch.

“Hey, Ivan,” I ventured carefully. “I would love to know - “

“Put me down! This is entirely undignified. How DARE you!”

“ - why you are abducting Mr. Bjornson here?” I finished.

“Hey, Sophia!” Ivan replied, completely ignoring the squirm of the much taller man he was currently carrying over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I was just - “

“Councillor Reid! Thank the gods…” The squirming intensified.

Ivan just calmly repositioned his - passenger? Victim? - before continuing. “Down at BioLab 2, talking to Nixe - “

“UNHAND ME!”

“ - when I saw the most interesting ball of tension I had ever met. So, being me, I decided I had to meet this man.”

“Sophia. Please. Help me!”

“Oh, hey Ivan,” Zach greeted, completely unperturbed by the insanity of the situation. Hannah smiled brightly and waved.

“Hey guys. So, as I was saying, I introduced myself, we started talking, one thing led to another - “

“How did ANY of that lead to - to THIS!?”

Finally, Ivan seemed to hear Jokul. Frowning, he turned toward the hip currently slung over his shoulder. “So, you didn’t mean it when you said I was aesthetically pleasing?”

“Well, I did, but - “

“Or was it the part about finding me charming?”

“No, I meant that, that’s not what I’m saying - “

“Then it was the part about wanting to get to know me better?”

I had to clench my jaw to keep from dropping it, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I would laugh or scream at Jokul’s response. He was downright soft. “Ivan, I did mean that. I do mean it. I just… I meant coffee. Or - or dinner. Not - “ A hand gestured blindly. “Whatever this is.”

“You said your feet were hurting,” Ivan pointed out before turning to me, Zach, and Hannah. “He decided to walk all the way from the Archives to BioLab 2.” Reaching around in a way that actually looked uncomfortable, he patted Jokul on the back, carefully avoiding anything further down. “Good thing he’s so pretty.”

“I…” Jokul started before trailing off, at a loss for words when confronted with the strange but undeniable logic of a man a full foot shorter than him but who was also carrying him like he weighed about the same as Mac.

I, however, was not equally speechless. “Why not take him to his own quarters, then?”

Ivan looked at me like I was being silly. “BioLab 2 is on Level Two. Jokul’s quarters are on Level Forty. Mine are on Level Twenty One. Much closer.”

“You could have gotten a transport, Ivan.”

Despite carrying well over two hundred pounds of former cult leader over his shoulder, he still managed to shrug. “It was a gym day, anyway. This does double duty.”

“Ivan - “ I started before being interrupted.

To my astonishment, Jokul stood up, brushed his hair out of his face, and faced me squarely with his hands on his hips. “If you don’t mind, blood is rushing to my head and making me dizzy. Can we please get on with this? I was promised French-pressed coffee, ginger cookies, and a foot rub.”

With quiet laughter, Ivan grabbed Jokul and tossed the taller man back over his shoulder. All I could do was sputter with the knowledge that I had drastically misread the situation.

Realizing he won the argument, Ivan threw a wink at me before patting Jokul’s leg. “Just a bit further. You all have a lovely lunch, I have someone to make coffee for.” With a cheeky wave, he marched on.

Just as he passed, I could see a very confused former warlord and accidental cult leader, arms crossed and indignant, but nonetheless quietly enduring his journey. Leaning toward Zach, I murmured. “Is Jokul… safe?”

“Yeah, safe as he can be on the Ark,” he shrugged in reply.

“You’re sure?”

He snorted at that. “If you’re worried about Bjornson’s virtue, it’s as safe as he wants it to be, I promise. Ivan takes pride in the fact that he is very charming, and you would not believe the number of dates he gets because he takes anything less than a direct invitation as ‘no’.” He rolled his eyes.

Where I had originally been worried that the indomitably-pleasant Ivan was taking… something… out on Jokul, the other man’s scolding assured me that his squawks and shouts were only for show.

“Clearly, he could have stood up whenever he wanted. Or even accidentally,” Hannah pointed out.

“So why didn’t he?” I was so confused. Admittedly, my mind kept going back to Jokul’s cries for help, even knowing they were for show.

Zach started coughing and turned bright red. Hannah patted his back and smiled at me. “I think you should probably ask Charly that question.”

“Why - oh. Oh……” Now, I was turning bright red. With a cough, I turned and strode back toward the table where our lunches were cooling. “So, hot pot,” I most certainly did not squeak. “What meat goes in hot pot? We decided one veg and one non-veg, right?”

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