ALL NOVEL 115. Lonely & Bored (Amy)
Our weekend in Calgary actually turned out pretty well, even if things didn't quite go as planned.
After treating us to brunch Jodie accompanied Tess and I while we wandered around Prince's Island Park and took in the Calgary Pride festival. Both my girlfriend and I were pleasantly surprised at how well her mom handled that whole situation. While I couldn't say for sure that Jodie enjoyed the experience, she definitely seemed to be making the effort. She also seemed curious and open-minded about it.
We were there for a couple hours, long enough that when we finally left the festival we could head straight to the hotel and check in. The room was pricey but definitely worth it, we had a king size bed in a large room with a northern view that overlooked the river, the island park, and the north half of the city.
Tess and I left our backpacks there, then the three of us set out again for some more sight-seeing. Jodie took us on a bit of a walking tour around the city centre, and our first stop was a popular shopping area in the heart of the downtown.
It was basically a section of one of their main streets that had been closed to cars, and become home to loads of boutiques and high-end stores, along with plenty of bars and fine restaurants. It was also practically on the doorstep of that big shopping mall she'd told us about over lunch, which was the next stop on our tour.
Like Jodie indicated, The Core was very reminiscent of Toronto's Eaton Centre. There were plenty of up-market stores spread over four floors, but the part Tess and I enjoyed the most was the indoor botanical park, Denovian Gardens. That was on the top floor, and it took up more than two acres of space in the building.
Once we'd seen enough of the mall Jodie took us on a tour of the city's "+15", which was an enclosed elevated pedestrian skywalk system. It sort of reminded me of Toronto's underground PATH network, in that it was a convenient way for people to navigate the city while avoiding cars and streets and unpleasant weather. The big difference was in Calgary you were above the streets, and there were plenty of windows.
At one point Jodie got a call from her husband, from the sound of it he was just checking in to see how she was doing. She told him she'd met up with some friends and was going to be busy for the rest of the day, which he seemed to accept without any problem.
Our tour of the city eventually came to an end at the Calgary Tower. Coincidentally that was right around dinner time, and thanks to a spur of the moment decision we were able to get last-minute reservations. So the three of us rounded out our day with another fine dining experience. It was one of those touristy things, but we had dinner in the revolving restaurant at the top of the tower.
The food was good and the view was pretty nice too, as we enjoyed our meal while the sun set and the city slowly rotated around below us. It was nearly ten at night when we were finally finished all the food and wine and everything. I insisted on paying for dinner since Jodie treated us to brunch, then the three of us set out together on the walk back towards the hotel.
It turned out Jodie was parked in a lot near the island, so rather than head straight to the hotel my girlfriend and I escorted her mom back to her car first. Then Tess and I shared another bottle of wine in the hotel's cocktail lounge before finally heading up to our room for the night.
Sunday was nowhere near as busy, the two of us slept in then had brunch in the hotel's restaurant before checking out. I teleported our overnight bags home so we didn't have to lug them around with us, then we went over to the island park to wander around the Pride festival again for a bit.
Tess was hoping to see her mother again in the afternoon, but it turned out Jodie couldn't make it. So we said our goodbyes over the phone before I teleported the two of us back to Ontario, where we wrapped up the weekend with a quiet evening at home.
Now it was around noon on Monday and I found myself feeling a little bored and a little lonely. Tess was busy at work, while Siggy was sound asleep curled up on the love-seat. And anyone else I could think to try and call or talk to would probably be at work too. My sister was starting her second week of her new job, Alex was still at their summer job. Even my online friends were probably busy, Krissy would be at work and it might be getting near dinner-time for Leah.
It even crossed my mind to reach out to my dad, but he'd be at work too. That just left my mom, since I knew she didn't work. Except I really didn't think that would be a good idea, and I was fairly sure she wouldn't want to see me regardless.
I knew I could always count on Raven to be available for me, but I really didn't want to bother her just because I was bored. Considering she was the one person who couldn't or wouldn't say no I felt like it would be taking advantage of her. Not to mention I'd feel a little embarrassed if I had to admit that was the reason I summoned her.
Finally it occurred to me to try and contact Cassandra. She left our last meeting kind of abruptly after all, so I figured maybe the two of us could pick up where we left off talking about our collaboration idea.
I exchanged a few texts with the other goddess, but she wasn't available to meet with me on such short notice. She said she needed a few days, so I asked if we could meet up over the coming long weekend. Then she suggested making it more of a social thing, where we could both bring our girlfriends so we could all get to know each other better.
I checked my calendar then agreed to meet Saturday evening. When it came to a location I suggested that pub my dad took Tess and I to a couple weeks earlier. I figured it was fairly nice without being too fancy, and Cassandra agreed so I texted her the name and address so she'd know where to find it. And finally I texted my girlfriend, to let her know I'd made plans for the two of us.
With that accomplished I felt glad to have achieved something, but on the other hand I was still lonely and bored and only managed to kill a half hour or so.
In the end I decided to reach out to Raven after all. I hadn't actually spoken with her in a week, the last time we talked was to discuss Theresa's encounter with the 'man in black'. So I had an excuse other than boredom, I figured I could talk to my angel about my meeting with Kid Chaos last week and the loose partnership idea the two of us were working on.
Rather than just summon her I sent Raven a text, since none of this stuff was all that critical and despite my mood I didn't want to disturb her if she was busy. Fortunately that turned out not to be the case, and a few minutes later I teleported into her apartment so we could talk without disturbing the sleeping Siggy.
"Hi Raven," I greeted her with a smile. "How have you been?"
As usual she seemed a little awkward with the friendly small-talk. She replied, "Things have been quiet lately. Please make yourself comfortable. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Actually how about I get us both drinks?" I responded with a smile, before conjuring up a bottle of her favourite whiskey for her and a glass of cool crisp white wine for me.
"Thank you my Goddess," she stated as she poured a large measure into a tumbler.
The two of us sat across from each other, I was on her sofa again while she took the easy chair. Then after a sip of her drink she asked, "What was it you wished to discuss?"
I grimaced, "I was thinking I should fill you in on my meeting last week? Sorry it's taken me so long, I've had a few distractions and things since then."
Raven assured me it was fine and that I didn't have to apologize to her, but I couldn't help it. I'd probably make a terrible boss, but I really couldn't treat people like subordinates.
"So the young goddess May Hawthorne wanted me to meet turned out to be the person responsible for all the demi-humans we've been helping," I told her. "May didn't know that either, she thought Kid Chaos was some demon or something? So we were both pretty shocked when her friend revealed that it was her doing."
I continued, "Anyways I explained how I'd been helping as many of those people as I could, and tried to talk to her about how she'd dropped the ball when it came to their ID and documentation. Kid Chaos wasn't too interested in that part of the conversation though. She's all about chaos, that's her domain or purview? And I got the impression she figured that leaving folks in limbo like that was contributing to chaos."
"On the other hand she didn't mind that I was involved and helping out," I added. "She's very supportive of trans and queer folks as well, that's why most of the demi-humans we've encountered have been trans people? We actually started to talk about collaborating, which is what I wanted to discuss with you."
Raven sipped her drink and listened quietly, then finally asked "What sort of collaboration were you considering?"
I grimaced, "We didn't actually get that far? She was called away early, before the two of us could start making any real plans. I've already made arrangements to meet with her again, but I don't know if we'll be able to talk shop or if it's going to be more of a social thing? Tess and I are going to meet Kid Chaos and her girlfriend for dinner one night during the long weekend. Maybe we can make some more concrete plans at that time."
My angel nodded slowly, then drained the last of her glass. She set the empty tumbler down and warned me, "I would caution against moving too quickly my goddess. I appreciate that you are perhaps accustomed to thinking of time in a human scale, but most other gods you meet will not be used to that."
"For example," she added, "If you recall when Sigrun's associates visited you in June, they asked you to provide them with some form of answer 'before the decade is out'. I'm quite certain they weren't being facetious, to them eight years is an acceptable amount of time to await a reply."
That left me with a thoughtful frown on my face, "I remember Moira saying that, but I didn't really think about it at the time."
"So you think me texting Kid Chaos six days later asking to meet again is going to make me look impatient?" I added. "Or desperate?"
Raven hesitated briefly before admitting, "It might. If she's already agreed to another meeting, even a social one, then perhaps I'm being overly cautious. I think it's still a good point to bear in mind though, my goddess. For those who are immortal and have existed for millennia, time takes on a very different meaning. They may see a decade the way a mortal human sees a month."
"All right Raven," I sighed. "Thanks for explaining that. I'll try and keep it in mind in the future."
After a sip of my wine I asked, "So thinking about possibly working closer with Kid Chaos, is there anything you think I should be wary of, anything I should be watching out for?"
This time my angel didn't have any hesitation as she responded, "Yes my goddess. I believe this Kid Chaos may be taking some chances with the status quo. What we've seen and heard of their work suggests their numbers are greater, and they're operating a lot closer to the public eye. My recommendation is before you begin working closely with them you could perhaps question them on that aspect of their work? Do they know about the status quo, and if so, what are they doing to ensure they don't cross it?"
I frowned, "She must know about it, she's friends with May Hawthorne and apparently she even knows May's daughter Sasha? So there's no way she doesn't know about the status quo. I'll make a point of asking though. I'm assuming she's got enough experience to know what she's doing. She might even have some sort of insider knowledge, if she's been talking to Sasha lately."
Raven nodded once in acknowledgement, but didn't have anything else to say on that subject.
I had some more wine as I tried to think of anything else to discuss, but nothing else came to mind. At least nothing that my angel would be interested in.
"All right then," I said. "Thanks for the input Raven. If I come up with any more questions or anything I'll let you know."
