Misconstrued, p.15
Misconstrued, page 15
“Good night, Iago.”
“Good night, Wilhemina.”
The last thing floating through my head before I fell asleep was wondering why he had chosen to use my full name then.
- - - -
I woke to the disorienting sensation of sailing through the air before landing on the bed. I lay there wide eyed, with my heart racing, as I tried to figure out where I was and what was happening.
Someone nuzzled my hair.
“Iago?” I whispered.
He growled something in his sleep and patted my shoulder. Squinting into the dark, I thought I could make out the far wall. Which made no sense. I had gone to sleep on the bathroom side of the bed.
Then it hit me. Iago had rolled over in his sleep and had taken me with him like a child holding a doll. I panicked and wondered what would happen if he rolled over onto me.
I reached up and patted his shoulder. “Iago!” I snapped.
He jerked awake and sat up, instantly alert and scanning the darkness for danger.
“You are safe!” he announced. “It was just a bad dream.”
Despite myself, I giggled. “No, I’m pretty sure you flipped me to the other side of the bed in your sleep.”
“Hmmm,” he rumbled. “I go?”
“No, you can stay. Just … don’t crush me in your sleep, okay?”
He grunted and nodded and lay back down. I watched him yawn and scratch his head, then startled again. “I’ll move!” he announced, before climbing out of bed and walking around to the other side and squeezing in next to me.
He hesitated, then rolled over so his back was to me. “Don’t like you between me and the door,” he grumbled. “My job to protect you.”
I smiled slightly in the dark. “Anything coming for me would have to make it past the others’ doors first.”
He grunted again. “They not—” He stopped and tried again, “They aren’t defenders. Or fighters. That’s my job.”
“Do you think I’m in danger?” I asked solemnly.
He shook his head. “Not the point.”
“I hate to say it, but it kind of is. Either I’m safe here or I’m not.”
Iago groaned and sat up. He fished in his pocket and pulled out a cube that he somehow turned on so that it gave off a faint glow. “Not true. There are many things, not just two. You are not a cat but that doesn’t make you a dog. You are safe with me. That doesn’t mean that nothing bad exists.”
I had to ask. “If you don’t like having me close to the door, why did you move?”
“Safer with me here than if you tell me to go,” he told me. “But not safer than with me on the other side.”
“Is that why you flipped me?”
“I didn’t know I did that,” he said defensively.
I considered this. “How much does being on that side of the bed bother you?”
“Lots,” he admitted. Then hurried to add, “Not enough to go.”
“Enough to let me see your feet?”
His eyes widened for a moment before narrowing. “You don’t have to trade to look at me. I am not a cheat like Lucky.”
I wondered how that was cheating. How was it any different than them giving me food and making me sleep here? “But you don’t want me to look, that's why the socks. No one else has socks. I haven’t seen socks since I got here.”
“I don’t want you to see my foot and send me away,” he whispered.
I didn’t want to call him on the stupidity of that, so I just snuggled under the covers and rolled away from him.
“You are angry.” He was so quiet, I could barely hear him.
“No, but you are an idiot. I know you are … mechanically enhanced. I’ve known for weeks. If I was going to get rid of you over it, I would have done it by now. Plus, the socks don’t hide the difference, it draws attention to it.”
He didn’t reply to that, not that I knew what I expected him to say.
I turned on my side and stared through the dark at the broad expanse of his back. “Do orcs scratch each other’s backs?”
“For children,” he grumbled.
“Really? That’s a shame. It feels nice,” I countered.
He slowly turned slightly towards me. “You want me to scratch you?”
“Nah, I’m good. I was going to do yours, but I’m not touching you if you don’t want me to.”
“Why would I want you to not touch me?” he asked.
That made me blow out my breath in a long stream. How did I even explain that one? Okay, I told myself, don’t overthink this. What is the most basic explanation of that one?
“People who don’t get to say no, get … sensitive about being touched, because it isn’t their choice. You get to say no, but I’m not always sure that you understand that.”
“I don’t want to say no.”
I rolled my eyes. I still wasn’t sure if this was that he didn’t want me to kick him out of bed, or if he wanted me to scratch his back, but I went for it anyway. He jumped when I touched him, so I pulled my hands away.
“See? That counts as a no.”
He shook his head, “That was surprise.”
I snorted. “If you touched me—”
“I wouldn’t!” he protested.
I ignored him and continued, “—and I jumped, would you stop?”
“Yes! Of course!” he snapped.
I didn’t say anything.
After a moment, he shook his head. “It’s different. I’m bigger. I can make you stop.”
“Not if making me stop will get you executed,” I countered.
He was very still and quiet at that. I had started to drift back to sleep when he finally said, “Humans are strange.”
“So are orcs,” I mumbled.
“Hmm,” he hummed. I yawned. He continued, “I … would … not say no … if you scratch my back,” he hesitantly stated.
I snorted, “Are you asking me to scratch you after all?”
What I got was frantic head shaking. “I would not make you do that!” he protested.
In the dark, I rolled my eyes. Apparently, that was as close as I was going to get to permission. I reached out and started by putting my hands flat on his back. I waited as his skin crawled beneath my touch. “Are you sure this is okay?”
“Yes. New, not bad.”
I carefully started to scratch his back and he squirmed. I stopped. He is breathing heavy. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Too gentle.”
I frowned in the dark. “Did I just tickle you?”
“What is tickle?”
How do you explain that to an alien? “It makes you laugh? Even when it’s not funny.”
“Hmm.” He sounded thoughtful. “I don’t need stop,” he added hopefully.
I chuckled softly and went back to scratching his back, this time with a bit more force. It was like scratching a dog; he wiggled to get the part he wanted scratched under my fingers. He groaned softly as I started to slow down. That made me laugh.
“I need to sleep now, big guy.”
“Hmm.”
I was starting to realize that might be the orc equivalent of ‘Um’. “Yes?”
“I’m not scary,” he rumbled, softly.
I snorted. “I suppose not.”
“Maybe sleep on the other side?” he suggested with a humorous amount of caution.
That made me laugh. “Okay.”
He got up and walked around the bed again, this time laying down facing the door. I ended up spooning up behind him. This time the noise he made sounded smug.
I had no idea what time it was, but I sagged against him and was asleep shortly after.
I woke up to the sound of orcs whispering.
They weren’t particularly good at it. The deep rumbles Iago was making made it feel like I was hugging a bass speaker. I blinked as I pulled away from him. His shirt was slightly stuck to my face with what was probably my sweat, and hopefully not where I had drooled on him.
“Go away,” I mumbled. “I’m sleeping.” There was ringing silence, and a distinct lack of retreating footsteps. I groaned and blinked as I sat up. “I did not get enough sleep. I am not ready to get up. Go growl at each other someplace else!” I snapped.
“Take him?” Mac asked with an excessive amount of nonchalance.
“No,” I grumbled. “We just slept.”
Iago chuckled softly. That made me open my eyes properly and look up at three distraught orcs looking down at me.
“Just tell me,” I grumbled.
Mac tried again, “Do you want us to take him out of here?”
I was about to say I don’t care but I stopped myself. “No,” I hazarded.
Tybalt looked pissed, but they left.
After the door closed, I whispered my question to Iago, “If I told them to take you, would they hurt you?”
He wiggled away from me so he could roll onto his back. “They were upset that I was in bed, not on bed. You didn’t tell me that.”
I nodded and pulled his arm around me so I could rest my head on his shoulder. “You’re right. I didn’t.”
“Did you think I knew?” he asked nervously.
I flopped on to my back and stared at the ceiling. “I didn’t tell you. I know that I can say no and I will if you do something I don’t like.”
He stiffened, figuring out what I wasn’t saying.
I reached up and cupped his far cheek, pulling his face slightly towards me, but mostly pulling myself closer to him. I kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry about it,” I said firmly. “I’m not unhappy with you.”
- - - -
Breakfast felt awkward. For one thing Tybalt wouldn’t even look at me, but worse was the staring from the others. Finally, I snapped and put down my fork rather more aggressively than needed. “Okay! Someone explain how this is going to work! You keep saying it's my choice, and I don’t have to do anything, and that large family marriages are normal for you. So, what the hell?”
“Why him?” Tybalt demanded.
The other three looked appalled.
It was Romeo who growled a response. “Because he talks to her! She likes that! You don’t!”
“I do!” Tybalt protested. “More than you!”
Mac leaned back in his seat and interlocked his fingers behind his head. Then he tilted his head back and grinned at the ceiling. It was pretty much the polar opposite of Iago glaring at the floor and clutching his fork like he wanted to stab someone.
Romeo wasn’t done. “You don’t! You expect to get by just because you might have a sister! She doesn’t care! She doesn’t want babies!”
Didn’t I? That was a pretty broad statement. I just don’t want to get pregnant right this second, I thought to myself.
“I noticed her!” Tybalt announced. “I got her food!”
“Mac would have noticed!” Romeo countered. “You made her scared! You made the humans hate her!”
“That’s going a bit far,” I murmured.
Mac covered his face with his hands and his shoulders started to shake like he was laughing.
I don’t know what Tybalt snarled in response, but the other three jumped to their feet.
“Sit down!” I snapped. “Either we figure out how to talk about this like adults, or I’m going to stay with Erika!” They sat with the posture of scolded school boys. It didn’t fit with their over six-foot-tall frames.
I took a deep breath and tried to think of what to say. “I need you to stop thinking like orcs for a moment and try to see this from my point of view. You don’t get to ask for things, but I have no understanding of what you aren’t saying or asking. I need you to talk to me!”
I swear Romeo muttered a sullen, “I told you so.”
“Romeo—” I just felt tired. I have no idea how to handle this. “What do you want?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. You are letting us in. Good for Iago, but good for us, too.”
“Humans only want one,” Tybalt grumbled.
“Maybe no!” Romeo snapped.
“Tybalt?” I decided to just keep going. “What do you want?”
“You!” he barked, making everyone uncomfortable. Then he sagged in defeat. “But he took you to bed when you asked for me. Then you decided you liked him best.”
“Mac?” I asked, ignoring Tybalt for the moment.
“I want to sleep in your bed,” he replied honestly, causing Romeo to give him a shove.
“Iago?”
“I want Tybalt to be better,” he grumbled.
“I want that too!” Romeo chimed in.
“Alright. How do we help Tybalt be better?” I asked. That just earned me a collection of funny looks. “If you want a group marriage or whatever, how does this work for you back home?”
“Badly,” Iago admitted. “You just get rid of anyone you don’t like.”
I frowned. “What? Because he’s grumpy one morning?”
Three nods plus Tybalt glaring at the far wall.
“I’m not doing that. So how do we all work together?” That finally got him to look at me. He seemed cautiously optimistic. I wondered what had happened before I had gotten up that morning.
It was Mac who suggested, “Talk to him? He wants time.”
“I have time,” I hazarded. “What would you like to do, Tybalt?”
He blinked at me as though I had asked him about string theory or something.
“You have a game? Iago got it. Can we play?” Mac blurted out.
“Okay. I can teach you some card games.” The cards that Iago got all had roman numerals on them. I wasn’t sure if they knew how to read at all, but those weren’t the standard characters even if they did. “But first, we’re going to have to learn a different kind of counting.”
- - - -
I wasn’t sure if they were letting me win, or if I was just not good at explaining. It didn’t even matter, because they were working together to figure out the game, as though I had given them a complex puzzle instead of trying to teach them “Oh Shit”.
Erika and her guys came over, and we ended up trying to teach her three, too. We eventually left the seven of them playing, and she and I went to get water in the kitchen.
“So, how are yours all getting along?” I asked.
Erika flashed me an embarrassed smile. “They’re good.” She grinned even wider and added, “Really, really good.”
“Why are you blushing? Did you make the other two take off their pants, too?”
“I didn’t make them!” she protested, giggling.
I rolled my eyes. “Aside from Lucky, who else has gotten lucky?”
Erika was grinning like an idiot, but she still tried to look coy as she shrugged.
“That looks like all three!” I gasped. “How are they getting along?”
“I dunno. They just said to not make a big deal out of it, so I didn’t,” she told me. “Neither did they. How many of yours?”
“None!” I snapped. Erika looked out the window. “Why am I suddenly feeling embarrassed by that?”
“Oh, sweetie!” she said, giving me a hug. “You don’t have to feel bad about it! But if you do, you don’t have to feel bad about that either.” She rubbed my back and assured me, “They’re all pretty mellow as long as they know where they stand.”
I swear, the lightbulb over my head went off like in a cartoon. I had been so busy worrying about surviving, that I hadn’t ever thought about how lost they must also feel. I wasn’t letting any of them know where they stood. They kept telling me it was my choice, but I hadn’t exactly made one. I was just letting things happen and reacting.
And so were they.
Yeah, okay, I’m not a total idiot. I could see how that was a bad plan once it hit me in the face.
“I don’t know what to do,” I muttered under my breath.
Erika gave me a hug. “Well, start there and see where it takes you.”
I sagged against her as she rubbed my back, and thought of Iago’s response to me touching him. That seemed like a reasonable place to at least start.
- - - -
Erika and I agreed to have morning meetings, but she left after lunch, taking her three with her.
