Chapter 318: Chapter 318 - Unclutter The Stash, Clutter The Mind
The shipping container felt cold when I woke up. Not the temperature, but the atmosphere. I’d taken some things out already, last night, in my preparation. So the part of it I can see from my side of the bed is just plain steel wall.
Somehow, as I roll to see the other side left to handle, I felt... like I was just running again. Like I had been in different ways since transmigrating to this world. But this time it felt different.
Before, I’d been fleeing from a location I had no wish to return to. The Duskpaw territory and a life under a group of werewolves that did not have my interests at heart. But now, I’m avoiding somewhere I actually want to be.
> The irony isn’t lost on me, Vrika. I’ve finally found a place that felt something like... a home. And I stayed away from that apartment last night because it may or may not be dangerous. <
Like the caves I’d hidden in as a child, or when court politics became too suffocating. Though I must say, hiding in here is a lot more productive than that *ever* was. Thanks to having a phone with internet access.
After consuming the last of the wings and fries I did not get to at ’Cluckers’, I spent hours researching again about electrical systems and power installation. Reading about voltage requirements, circuit breakers, grounding procedures - all kinds of technical specifications with numbers that made my head ache but that I forced myself to at least try and understand.
> Like I said, if I’m going to have this conversation, I refuse to sound like an ignorant princess who expects others to handle all of her practical matters. Even if that’s exactly what I am. So, I’ll also do more ’cramming’ soon. <
But first...
⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖
I had enough technical vocabulary to at least ask informed questions, I believe. Understanding the general difference between AC and DC power, why inverters mattered, and roughly how many watts my basic needs would require so that I am not under or oversold.
More importantly, I’d moved everything out of the container. Every shelf, piece of clothing, weapon, medical good, the big rock, bed, and the few personal items I’d accumulated. All of it was now stacked and hidden in the unfinished office space of the warehouse.
The empty container looked appropriately ’industrial’ again... with everything else I own kept out of sight. Just waiting to be made functional by his expertise and installation. Sighing, I head toward the bathroom to check my appearance one final time.
Hair up, face washed. I could use a shower - and probably should have taken Martha up on her offer. The same clothes from last night, because they are the most... ’outdoors’ feeling things I have to wear.
"Wearing a nice dress to this meeting certainly isn’t going to win me respect."
Checking the time, I find that the combination of Stash and werewolf stamina has once again made a large task a bit trivial. Assuming he arrives on time, like his text message said he would... he is still an hour from showing up.
For a few minutes I pace. Then I jump onto the top of the container and lay down. Sit up from *that* uncomfortable situation a half minute later and dangle my legs off the side. Still uncomfortable - but feeling stubborn about my choice to be up here now - I pull out my phone for a distraction.
The hunter’s app proved surprisingly useful for this research, as there were a number of posts discussing off-grid power solutions. My situation wasn’t entirely unique, which was a boon. Plenty of people wanted their electricity in remote locations without drawing attention from utility companies.
However, that wasn’t what I was staring at on the screen right now. Even though I spent the night telling myself not to give in.
> This is probably a terrible idea. <
Curiosity won, as it always did. I opened the messages again and hit play. The video opened quickly on Kyrie’s bedroom. But the camera was shaky, clearly handheld... and unlike the times as I panicked... I could hear her opening inhale in the first second before she spoke.
"Alright, Princess. Since you seem to need a tutorial on making my bed after you sleep in it..."
The camera itself focused on the rumpled sheets, allowing me to see the evidence of my too hasty attempt at covering my tracks... as well as proof that she chose to record this *humiliation* immediately on entering the room.
> I knew she was hiding her fangs. But I didn’t know she was this vindictive! <
My wolf gave me deeply accusing looks while flickering memories of all I’ve done to the Alpha since I’ve met her into my soul. But I was more interested in current reality, where Kyrie’s hands came into the frame. She began stripping the bed completely instead of trying to smooth the wrinkles.
"You can’t just run your hand over the mistake and expect it to look right. Please use fresh sheets, they are right here."
Leading me on a small tour toward the closet, I watch as she pans the camera over numerous flat sheets, pillow cases, and everything I would need - if I wanted to be her servant. I could feel my fingers grip hard on the phone.
"By the way, I could smell that you’d been in here the moment I walked in. You neutralized the bed... but after a whole night you really should spritz the entire room. If you actually wanted to get away with it."
As her amused and warm voice tickled the back of my eyes, my grip loosened. Watching her keep the camera pointed at her fingers as they traced across the closet door, I pulled my feet back up to the edge of the container.
"You know, I spent about ten minutes standing here. Wondering if I’d sleep better by just leaving these sheets as they are. So that I would stay reminded of you."
I paused the video and covered my face with my hands, exhaling hotly into my palms. This would be exactly why she’d warned me that she would send it later, when I wasn’t in public. I suppose I can’t fault her for only sending it when she could.
> But I can absolutely hold a small grudge that she recorded this at all... the camera work is terrible. And the silly wolf is just being... so sentimental. <
"I decided it would just make it worse knowing you weren’t actually here. Yet."
When I hit play again, Kyrie spoke possessively as she walked swiftly. She was tucking in the corners of a new sheet with one hand in a handful of seconds, like she needed to get it done with before she could change her mind.
"Hospital corners. Not surprising you never learned, considering cultures can be different and you probably had people making your bed."
A soft chuckle made my eyes itch again. Why does it keep doing that when she is... teasing me?
"The lumbar pillow goes on the left. Because I always sleep on the right side and moving it every time became annoying. The throw gets folded tripart and placed neatly at the foot... not in half and another half."
That voice of hers had a ’stream-of-consciousness’ quality that people get sometimes, when they think they’re alone. Her hand worked tirelessly as she spoke - and occasionally the camera would go wild when she reached out with need of a second grip.
Until finally I see a perfect bed, the same as before I jumped and rolled onto it that night. Before I rolled restless for a while, then slept deeply.
"You know, I’ve owned this bed for five years. Change the sheets and covers every Monday and Friday. It never felt too big or too small. Until now, when I know you’d been in it."
The camera tilted toward her face as brown eye looked down at the lens. She looked... still far too *confident* that she knows this will ’get’ to me, but also particularly soft and unguarded. Something I can’t imagine other people see regularly.
"Now it feels enormous to have to myself. I might not let you kick me out, if there is a next time. Even if I’m ordered not to move or touch you... I want to know what it would be like for my mate to simply cuddle to sleep with me."
Vrika stirred restlessly in my mindscape when the video stopped, like it could egg on every little good feeling I may or may not be having. But I didn’t say anything back... didn’t even pop inside my soul in any possible form.
I just sat the phone down and stewed up here on the steel. Over the fact that she got her wish.
All she needed was to get poisoned and break into my apartment for me to sleep next to her... in both my bare skin and in my wolf’s fur.