#WritingWonders 4.17 — "What qualities do you find attractive in a person?" she asked me. [Secondary character speaking.]
After the interview, I got me some time off with a wink and a nudge from the lady Director who didn't want to attend the afterparty (probably worried she might punch someone whose name started with C). The team sat at other tables. I chatted up lady Cherry Blossom Cliftown, the Celeb Interviewer, cause she was fun to needle. I guess her manager and crew realized the interview had put her in a really bad mood and was happy someone else handled her, or I was her type. I didn't know which.
"Bolt, Bolt, Bolt," she said, and I grabbed the shot glass as she gestured so it sprayed the table, not my face. "Is it Captain Bolt, Lady Bolt, Girlfriend Bolt—?"
"Just friend. Captain of her guard once I'm trained up, but friend first." I nursed an apple juice. Very rare. There were a handful of places cold enough for apples. Wasn't going to fly drunk in any case later, or be a cheap date.
"Perfect. Girlfriend." She propped her chin with her hand and still wobbled. "Why friend? What attracted you to her?" Her emphasis stated unambiguously what she really thought!
"Well, you ain't gonna remember, so why not."
"Remember?" She patted a pocket but missed her purse, so didn't grab a notebook. She grinned. "Good memory," she tapped her head, almost missing.
I was inclined to fly her home so she woke in my bed, just to see if she'd remember and to witness her panic. I grinned. Might be worth cleaning up her puking. I lowered my voice and said, "For all me flaws, she decided I was worth knowing and protecting,"
"How sho?"
"You know we were pardoned for bunch of things, right?"
"Right. She wrote the list down in open court! Nine other people."
"I was one. We was haulin' us weeds and herbs when she told me she'd been blackmailed into working for the boss, but didn't understand why I was working for him. Told her I'd wanted to open a moving company back home, but I couldn't get a license because I hadn't started and nobody would hire me because they found out I wanted to compete with them. I am a strong flyer; can transverse levitate 'specially well. So I needed to raise money to buy me own equipment. The boss got me jobs—then him some real bad in criminating evidence."
"Tricked? En-trapped-ed?"
"Pretty much. But guess what? She just nodded. She says to me, 'We're the same.'"
Cherry reached for the shot glass, but I slid it out of reach and watched her pout.
"Not judgmental, she was. When the boss made me the patsy messenger for all sort of bad news to mess with her, she didn't get mad. She commiserated, never telling me she plotted to get even. In the shoot-out what happened, a goon splashed me with demon fire. After the coppers arrested the boss and were about to arrest me and her, she magic-jumped to me, frightened off the scuz copper holding me, then jumped us away onto the roof of building where we hid. She later healed my burns though it took a lot out of her—then gave me what the boss had paid her before the sting op went down! She told me to start my company,. With that and my savings, I could!"
"But you stayed?"
"Flapping stuff went down before dawn. Director Rainy Days wanted my lady for her current gig and had her coppers cordon off the city. She tried to escape and took me with her. Sadly, we failed to break free. In the fight after, I impressed Rainy Days, I did, fighting Her Highness to keep her from almost killing my lady, thus my current gig and my bling antique armor. Weren't easy, no way, but how can you not love a person who believes in you so much they risk themselves to save you? It's insanely attractive."
And, I thought, you'd better be blackout drunk, Cherry Blossom, 'cause that's secret, and you'd better not blab. I quickly poured her another shot from the expensive emerald green bottle.
On her second try, she found her mouth. After a cough, Cherry said, "She doesn't come across as nice in interviews."
"Yeah. She's a bit weird."
[Author copyright retained.]
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