Yes, folks, the long-awaited (well, more like long-forgotten) chapter 4 of Strange Fire! Part 4 got a little long, so I'm dividing it into two posts (not to mention I still need to edit part 4b, so you're getting this sooner this way).
Notes: HirdexRelena yuri. Cutter likes mud. This is set whenever I said it was set when I posted the prologue (I don't remember. . .either just before or just after EW?).
Disclaimers: The characters aren't mine; the words are. Except for the words in ~blah~ format, which belong to the fabulously talented Indigo Girls (the song is "You and Me of the 10,000 Wars," which is so appropriate to GW it's scary).
Ok, so maybe cutting across a wet, unplanted field on an overcast day wearing sandals was a bad idea. How was I to know? 'S not my fault I'm spontaneous...
The rain is pouring down harshly, pelting down with such violence I feel as if I'm being beaten. And with each passing second, my feet are sinking further and further into the viscous black-brown sea of mud that mere seconds ago was an ordinary field. In a weird way, I like it. The contrast between the hard wetness bearing down on me and the slick, soft wetness beneath my feet is a kind of sensory overload. If I'd known Earth could feel like this, I would've left L2 a long time ago. I pull a foot up experimentally, and feel strong suction as the ground protests my leaving. My foot comes up, but not the sandal that went with it.
"Arrrghh!" comes a voice from my right. //Oops,// I think, //I forgot about Relena for a second.// Looking over to where she is, I see her struggling to untangle her dress from her legs. Her skirts, no longer pink but a suspicious brown, are all twisted around her and I am just in time to see her tumble backwards and land on her rear with a 'squelch'ing sound. And she is... swearing?! I can't help it. I laugh.
~~you and me of the 10,000 wars~~
Then I plunge my hand into the mud up to my elbow and fish out both of my missing sandals. I throw them in a high arc up and over the fence, where they hit the road with two soft 'thud's. Unfortunately, it's going to take considerably more effort for *me* to get back to the road, since the mud resists every movement of my legs. //On the other hand,// I muse, wiggling my toes experimentally, //it feels neat and it's kind of fun to play in.//
Relena apparently does not see it that way. "Hirde! This is all *your* fault! My dress is ruined and I'm all *muddy* and now I'll have to wash it and we don't even have a *machine*!"
~~dividing life into factions of pleasures and chores~~
"This is *not* my fault. No one forced you to follow me, Vice-Minister Peacecraft. And I'm going to have to wash my clothes too, and clean out my gun, so why don't you just have fun being where you are?" I scoop a handfull of mud and then squeeze my fist, feeling it ooze from between my fingers. //This is almost as fun as silk!//
"What are you talking about?"
I consider my next move carefully. I want to play, and the world is wet and cool, and Relena's whining has been bothering me lately... //Though not as much as you thought... in fact, when she's not whining you like to listen to her voice, don't you?// I shake my head to clear it. It's true I like Relena more than I had expected to; she can even be kind of nice. But fair is fair. I owe her for the Looks and the moody silences. I pick up another handful of mud, and sling it at her. It hits her square in the stomach.
"Hirde! What are you *doing*?!" I giggle. She's so funny when she's pissed and confused.
"Playing! Come on, your clothes are already messy anyway. Learn to have fun! Be young! You're too serious by half." Gleefully, I hit her in the arm with another blob of mud.
~~the heart of a skeptic and the mind of a child~~
Her eyes narrow and she begins to slosh toward me. //Uh oh,// I think. //Maybe I shouldn't push her.// Before I have time to ponder it, I hear a 'splat!' and feel goop covering my face. She hit me in the *face*! I wipe my eyes, only to remember that my hands are muddy too, and succeed in making myself even more of a mess than before. She smirks. "All right, Miss Politician! This means war!"
We begin to sling mud at each other with reckless abandon as the storm rages on. The rain cleans us as we dirty ourselves, but not fast enough to save our clothes or our hair.
I hit her face.
Mud connects with my arms.
Her shoulder becomes a brown mass.
A ball of wet mire hits me square in the diaphragm.
We are giggling and laughing and squealing like children who are free finally from bondage. Which, in a way, we are. We are kids, after all, and the war is over.
~~put my life in a box and let my imagination run wild~~
Now, both of our outfits are completely ruined and brown- black, and we are deep into the mudfight of the century. Maybe the millienium. I have never seen Relena so abandoned as she is now-- gone is the about-to-crack queen I rescued from her office those days ago; now her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are alight with fire and mischief and fun as we go back and forth...
~~pour the cement for my feet~~
I am at the edge of something; I don't know what. But I feel myself teetering. //Hirde! Get a grip! Come on!// As my mind reels, I lose my physical purchase, too, and sway backwards. Unfortunately, my legs are so stuck in the cementlike mud that I can't fall normally, and my body twists. I end up sort of crumpled forward in a crouch on knees and elbows, looking up. Relena is giggling and sloshing her way towards me, presumably to help me. //Laugh at me, will you?// I manage to free one hand and when she is only a few feet away, I throw a handful of the gook up at her.
It hits her pale neck and slides slowly, slowly down... down to her collarbone... down between her breasts, which are half- exposed because she has bent forward to help me up.
~~twist the shapes until everything comes undone~~
I can't breathe. No, that's not right; my breathing is erratic, my heart is pounding in my chest, and my eyes are stinging hot. Hot, hot... As if underwater, I watch as the brown, wet mud slides to the skin just above her breasts and continues inexorably down. My eyes are glued to it and I cannot look away no matter how hard I try; I feel as if I've been running for miles and all I can see is that mass slipping into the hollow between her breasts and progressing down the inside of the left one like molasses, outlining the curves.
~~i wanted everything to feed me~~
The mud and rain--how have I forgotten that the rain is still falling down on us?--form a paste that plasters her dress to her body, hugging it, leaving nothing to the imagination.
~~after the battle and we're still around~~
This is not happening. This is not happening to me again.
~~everything once up in the air has settled down~~
"Hirde? Are you OK?"
~~sweep up the ashes, let the silence find us~~
My skin is hot. My skin is hot! And there she is, asking me if I'm OK as I stare at her breasts and my heart is pounding like I've just run a marathon and blood is thrumming through my veins and I'm taking in huge gulps of air...
~~a moment of peace is worth every war behind us~~
Relena...
Oh, shit.
~~you and me of the 10,000 wars~~
End Part %
The lyrics are not full; I've skipped several sets of lines I didn't feel like including. Yes, folks, this is the closest I have ever gotten to a songfic (not real close).
So, C&C (and most definitely criticisms as well as compliments)? I crave feedback... give me feedback...
Tekka: You shouldn't beg; it's undignified.
Cutter: I thought we said as long as I have you, dignity is
irrelevant.
Tekka: I suppose we did... feedback! Give us feedback!
Cutter: ::pats muse:: That's the spirit.
Now, part 4b is the nightclub scene, and we are *finally* almost to part 5, the first chapter I wrote, my personal favorite, and the reason for this fic! ::beams:: ::is excited::
Ja na!
(:./cutter/fire5)
