Iann showed up one day, with theories.
And at first, River didn’t mind. In fact she welcomed it. As much as she was settling into an actual life here in Soapberry - with the job and the roommate and the apartment and the…other things - there was always that nagging reminder and guilt in the back of her mind.
That she needed to be working and uncovering and discovering and investigating. Solving the mystery, defeating Calloway, or who ever she needed to defeat to stop her siblings from being murdered. Put an end to her family’s torment and nightmare once and for all. All this on River’s strong little shoulders, that she carried with her day to day, through her job and apartment and even the…other things.
Well, not always through the other things, because other things could be mighty distracting.
Nevertheless, Iann showing up with ‘theories’ was a welcome respite. A distraction from the rather pleasant normality of life, back to the mission. Weird, how in Soapberry, the script got flipped like that.
“Okay,” River said, once they were settled in her RV (Iann seemed to believe it was the best place to talk. “Give me what you got.”
Iann did. He launched into various theories - about Calloway, about his underground fighting, the Soapberry border lair, the tunnels they’d discovered in the blob-dream. About her parents, and her mom, and her siblings. About ley lines and how magic worked and witches in general, and pinpointing what type of witch Calloway was. About the pelt he was holding, in that blob-dream. About the veracity of the blob dream itself.
River listened intently at first, adding her own insights and getting into it with her usual driven eagerness.
After about an hour though, she found herself gazing out one of the tiny windows, planning a circuit training for work tomorrow.
No, River! Focus, concentrate. River smiled up at Iann as he was still yammering away and…
…and wondered what Charlie was doing right now.
And suddenly there was a knock on the door.
“Tell whoever it is to go away,” Iann said in irritation, as he continued to talk. River nodded and got up and answered it.
“Hey you. Ash said you were in here, trapped by Cardero - “ Charlie was leaning against the door and they ducked in to peek. “I see Ash was right. Want me to save you?”
“Yes please,” River gushed, but she felt guilty about it immediately. Iann was trying to help after all. But all River could think about was the taste of Charlie’s lips, and the glitter in their eyes when River’s mouth did that thing just right.
Charlie was about to speak (no doubt say something that would make River’s knees weak) when River spontaneously pulled Charlie halfway into the RV, and kissed them. A long, delicious kiss, as her face blossomed a bright red. She was kissing Charlie in front of someone else - River was doing it brazenly, and she was thrilled.
“Oh - ah - ohhhh man look at the time! Look at. The time,” Iann said, glancing at his watch and quickly packing up his news clippings and files and miniature blackboard. He slid past the pair, and out the RV door. “I should go, I got some work to do and - and you’re way too much of a distraction, Burke.”
“On your way, Cardero,” Charlie grinned back, then hopped nimbly inside the RV. And River shut the door and escaped back into her wonderful, normal life.
@river-phillips, @charliesfins