No Reservations

by Snaproll

Chapter 2

I led Trixie back to the employee garage, which was a thankfully short walk away. Fishing around in my pocket for my keys, I unlocked my pride and joy.

Trixie stared in disbelief at my ancient Suburban. "We're going in that...thing?"

"Hey! Don't laugh. It's paid for." Ouch. The Kaburban might not look like much, but it ran well, parts were cheap, and it handled the occasional snow like a champ. Plus, it made camping a breeze.

I opened the passenger side front door and gestured gallantly for her to enter. "She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts." That might be bragging slightly; As mighty as my ride was, it wouldn't do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Looking apprehensive, Trixie climbed into the car and I shut the door for her before making my way over to the driver's side and mounting up myself. I glanced across at my passenger, who was studying the leather seats of the vehicle with interest. I fired up the car and started to back up, then stopped.

"Could you do me a favor and buckle up?"

"What?"

What?! I thought to myself, but, calmly, I unbuckled my seat belt and showed her how it worked. It took her a good half minute to fumble with it, but finally I heard it click shut. Just what the hell is with this girl?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully, the roads were blessedly empty at this time of night, so it only took me twenty minutes to drive back to my home in downtown Sparks. Even now, three years later, it was still hard to think of as Mine. When Grandad passed away, he'd left me the house he'd bought after coming home from World War Two to work for Union Pacific. It was a fairly small two bedroom affair with a modest yard and a shed. But then, like my old Suburban, it was paid for. Unfortunately, there were still occasional problems with the house, and I'd given serious thought to selling the old place. But the timing had never seemed right. Not to mention it was a ten minute walk from Victorian Square, which made things convenient if I ever wanted to dine out or have a drink.

Not that we'd be doing that this evening.

I pulled the truck through the drive to the back under the covering I'd erected last spring and killed the engine. "Well, here we are." I unbuckled my seat belt and climbed out of the car, shutting the door behind me. I was halfway to the house when I noticed that I was doing so alone.

Frowning, I walked back to the car and opened the front passenger door and had to stifle a laugh. Somehow, Trixie had managed to wrap the shoulder strap of her seat belt around her head and was furiously thrashing about and trying to fiddle with the belt release.

"About time you came to help! How do you release this blasted contraption!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Does Trixie-OOF-look like she's-ARRRGH- kidding?! Help me out here!"

I snorted. "Hold still. You're making it worse." I reached across her body and hit the release, taking care to hold the buckle before it retracted and either smacked me in the head or strangled my absurd guest. After a minute's careful untangling, Trixie was able to exit my car, though she gave it a baleful look as I shut the door.

"Your wagon is most disagreeable."

I rolled my eyes. "Hey now. She has her days, but she runs more often than not." I nodded back towards the house. "Come on in, it's cold this evening."

She started to follow, then, frowning, she paused and scanned the night sky. "What...where...Where's your moon?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to her. "Eh?"

"You've no moon in your sky." This thought, more than being abandoned by her companions at a strange airport and being taken in by a stranger, seemed to affect her more than anything else. "What happened to your Moon?"

"Nothing, really. It's usually up in the day, this time of year. Give it another month, though, and it should be up in the evening."

"It...the moon in the day?"

"Yeah...are you coming?"

"Y...yes, I am."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside, I fired up the lights to my living room, which is small with delusions of Coziness. Most of the room was dominated by a massive sofa I'd managed to pick up at a thrift store some years ago. It clashed with the rest of the furniture, but my grandparents had not had to contend with the occasional couch-surfing college friend. I hung my coat up and made my way to the kitchen. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

Trixie was gazing around the furnishings with interest, and my question caused her to start. "What? Oh...if it's not too much trouble."

Lady, if it was too much trouble, I'd have left you at the airport. Out loud, I said "I haven't done much shopping in the last few days, but let's see what I can round up for you."

The fridge was from the same vintage as the rest of the furniture. It was probably older than it should be, but, like everything else I owned, it still worked. I ran a litany of what I had in. "Let's see...Cheese, some apples, a few beers...worse off than I thought." I glanced over at the pantry, which I'd left open. "Looks like I have some graham crackers, rice cakes and peanut butter."

"Peanut butter and crackers sound good."

I nodded. "Come on into the kitchen, have a seat."I pulled two beers out of the fridge, made my way over to the pantry and pulled out the peanut butter and a box of graham crackers for her and a couple of rice cakes for myself along with a butter knife. I opened both beers in front of her and set them both in front of her, followed by the aforementioned crackers. When she made no move for the crackers, I opened the box for her, and lay a few out on the kitchen table and opened the peanut butter, spreading some on my rice cake by way of demonstration.

It took her longer than I'd expected to spread some of the peanut butter on her cracker, which led me to suspect she had some sort of motor control functions. She held her knife in a hard fist, as if she was afraid of dropping it. After a frustrating few minutes, however, she was able to get enough on to satisfy her taste and she started eating.

"Trixie thanks you for your hospitality. I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

I got tired of waiting for her to select one of the beers before her and chose one myself. "I suppose you had other things on your mind at the time. Finn Kelly, at your service." I said, raising my beer in a salute. "Now, did you have any way of getting in touch with your friends?"

Trixie frowned, munching away at a graham cracker, thoughtfully. "Not sure...Trixie...I...mean, I...should be able to get back with them when they return the wagon they rented from you, hopefully."

I frowned at that, searching my memory from what I could remember of their contract. "I mean, their contract was supposed to finish about..." I checked my watch, "This time, two days from now...do you mean you're just planning on waiting at the airport for them to turn up?" Something was fishy about this. Surely she must have had a return ticket, or other travel information. "I mean, it's my day off tomorrow. I could take you to their hotel and we could see about locating them, if you like."

Trixie finished a cracker and picked up her beer with both hands and took a pull from the bottle, then frowned at the bottle. "What is this brew?"

I grinned. "Great Basin Wild Horse. Best beer this side of the Sierras."

She took a few seconds to study the rearing wild horse rampant on the beer label before she shook herself. "I'm sorry...If it wouldn't be too much trouble, that would be a great help."

I nodded as I scarfed down my last rice cake. "Well, that's settled then. Now, let's see to your accommodations."

Thankfully, my guest bedroom was reasonably clean of detritus and waste. But then, I never really had guests in, though I did have the foresight to keep a futon in there. Again, couch surfing college friends. My grandfather's old Spinnet piano, my guitar on its stand, and a wall mounted television rounded out the rest of the furniture. I pulled out the futon and grabbed a trio of spare blankets from the closet, bundling one into a rough pillow and spreading the others over the bed. "Here you go. There's a bathroom down the hall, and this door has a lock. If you need me, I'll be in the main bedroom. Now, can I get you anything else?"

She gave the futon an appraising glance. "Well, I've certainly slept in worse places on the road. Thank you for your hospitality, Finn Kelly."

"Don't worry about it. It's a tough situation. I'm just, glad I could help." I tipped an imaginary hat to her. "See you in the morning."

With that I stumbled down the hall to my bed. There was nothing I could do to help Trixie until day, and I was desperate for sleep. Thinking about it for a minute, I locked the door to my room. Not that I necessarily distrusted Trixie, but I'd have been pretty dumb to take her Lost Babe in the Woods act at face value. And I know I wasn't the first person in the world to have been suckered by a pretty face in trouble.

I had just enough energy to get out of my work clothes and flop under the covers. I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the covers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"FINN KELLY! GET UP THIS INSTANT! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I was jolted out of my sleep by Trixie's stentorian bellowing, punctuated by heavy pounding at my door. "CELESTIA'S SHINY HINEY, FINN KELLY, IF YOU DO NOT GET UP, I SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS."

I glared blearily at my alarm clock. I'd barely been asleep for a half hour. "Rrrgh...Trixie, can't it wait until morning?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT, FINN KELLY!" The pounding resumed. "YOU ARE AWAKE ALREADY, GET OUT HERE AND HELP ME!"

Frustrated, I flung the covers off myself and stormed over to the door. "What in ODIN'S NAME is it?" I opened the door in a rush, my temper overcome.

In hindsight, I should have guessed she was going to keep pounding on the door. Unfortunately, my door opens inward, and her closed fist came down and clobbered me in the nose.

"OI!"

"Oh!" Her demeanor changed. "I'm sorry, Finn Kelly! Are you alright?"

I massaged my nose carefully. That's a painful spot to get hurt, but thankfully she didn't seem to have broken it or given me a nosebleed. "I suspect I'll live. What is it?"

By now, Trixie looked almost embarrassed, and she was squirming. "Um...The Great and...I mean, I could use your help..." She gestured to her jeans. "Trixie needs to relieve herself and she can't-" She shifted to fiddling with her belt. "-Contend with-" She kept squirming in obvious discomfort "-these INFERNAL garments."

That brought me out of my irritation. "So...you want me to..."

"REMOVE THESE CONFOUNDED TROUSERS, FINN KELLY!"

Look, it's been a while since a pretty girl asked me to take her pants off. "You're kidding."

"Does Trixie look like she's kidding? Remove these trousers. I do not wish to soil myself."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in through my nose, and then counted to ten as I exhaled. "Ok...just...just hold still." I stepped up close to her, and, very, very carefully, I undid her belt, unbuttoned her pants, and slid the zipper of her jeans down an inch. She smelt...wild, of jasmine, wildflowers and clean autumn wind. I shook my head and stepped back. "There...is that all you needed?"

She glanced down. "I am still wearing these trousers. And what appears to be..." She frowned as she managed to lower her zipper. I had a glimpse of royal purple panties trimmed in white lace. "What sort of lunacy is this with clothing UNDER pants?"

I averted my gaze to the ceiling. "Doesn't matter, I'm sure you can get them off yourself." I pointed over her shoulder. "Bathroom. Go relieve yourself!"

She turned, managing to slide her pants down around her rather shapely thighs. Royal purple, trimmed in white lace... I smiled to myself, despite the rude awakening.

Then her voice came from the bathroom. "Such a wide commode...How do you sit on it?"

After I'd burst into the bathroom, explained to her that what she was about to relieve herself in was in fact the bathtub and a hurried, eyes averted explanation of how the toilet worked, I was shambling off to bed. Again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up again before dawn. Lucky me! Some people have the luxury of getting their sleep all at once! I get to spread it all out!

Growling to myself, I rolled over and tried to get comfortable, when I heard Trixie speaking clearly. Puzzled, I got out of bed and padded to my door, then down the hall to the guest room. Trixie had left her door opened, and I opened it as quietly as I could, lifting the door so the hinges wouldn't squeak.

Trixie was lying in the futon, sprawled in elegant disarray, tangled in the covers I'd provided, and, apparently, talking in
her sleep.

"The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie resents your implications, Princess of the Night." Who rolls their tongue in their sleep? "I only followed through the portal to aid your sister and Princess Know-it-All. The fact it's a new adventure is completely immaterial to the events at hand." She breathed in and out, her features twitching as if in a dream. She paused long enough that I thought she'd subsided, and I'd turned to go back to bed when she spoke again.

"Of course Trixie can care for herself. Using her Feminine Charms, she has convinced a gullible and easily led stallion to put her up for the time being."

More like Irritable and Easily Awoken , honey. I thought to myself, but Trixie spoke again before I could do anything but ponder throwing a sock at her. "You assume too much, Mooncheeks. He has been the perfect gentlecolt. He has offered to help me search for your retired sister and her companions on the 'morrow."

More silence, then Trixie spoke again. "Yes, yes, I know why your sister and her Know-it-All students traveled to this Harmony-forsaken world. Just consider me an involuntary addition to their party." A shorter pause. "You had better NOT let me get stranded here! There's no sense to this place, Your Highness. And it wouldn't be fair to Finn Kelly. Trixie may be overbearing and arrogant, but she isn't unobservant."

A longer pause.

"Yes, your highness...I will be in touch..." And then she mumbled a few more times and began...well...

Look. I'm not entirely inexperienced when it came to women, but I know a snore when I hear one. I turned and padded back to my bed, muttering "Mad...mad as a balloon..." before flopping back into bed and pulling the covers over my head. Maybe, if I was lucky, I'd get the remaining four hours of sleep the universe owed me all lined up in a row.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I dreamed.

It started off in a confused murmur of light, sound and sensation that resolved itself gradually into something familiar. I was sitting in what looked like a college professor's working office. Both walls to my left and right were dominated by various books of incredible thickness, though, like in most dreams, I couldn't make out the titles. The wall before me was dominated by a wide window, though curtains were drawn against the night sky. I sat before a wide mahogany desk littered with various papers, pens, pencils, and a book held open at a page by a silk ribbon that was a purple so dark it was almost black. A mug emblazoned with a picture of the Earth rising over the horizon of the Moon held a steaming amount of hot chocolate.

Behind the desk sat a woman.

Even sitting down, I could tell she was tall, easily over six feet. Her hair was dark, almost blue black in the office light, and held back in a simple pony tail. She wore a suit in midnight blue over a lighter blue blouse, with a silver waxing crescent moon necklace around her neck. She had a widow's peak, and her features were achingly, timelessly beautiful, though I got the impression that she could be equally severe or sensual, depending on her mood. Her pale blue eyes were most intriguing, however (and, given the curves concealed by her conservative dress, that was saying something). They sparkled with intelligence, wisdom, and, unless I miss my guess, a bit of sorrow.

"So, Finn Kelly, what are we to do with you?"

"How do you mean, Ma'am?"

She arched a delicate raven-black eyebrow. "What we mean, Finn Kelly, is that you have stumbled inadvertently into a situation far beyond your humble reckoning, courtesy of your new companion." She frowned, her brows knitting. "It is vexing. Your actions with Trixie have been honorable, and yet..." She shook her head. "It is a puzzle, young stallion. And I am not as fond of puzzles as my esteemed sister."

Unusually for a dream, I actually had a chance to think about my response and my situation. "Well..When it comes to Trixie, I'd like to get her out of my hair as fast as possible. Ideally back to whatever institution she managed to escape from."

My companion gave an elegant snort, and nodded. "That is not an uncommon reaction to making her acquaintance."

I smiled at that. "Glad to know it's not just me." I shook my head. "As irritating as she is, though, she doesn't seem like a bad person. Just someone who managed to get in over their head. And, let's be honest, everyone needs help every now and then."

She nodded. "Just so." She studied me again, and then seemed to arrive at a decision. "Your manners seem forthright, Finn Kelly. We will place our trust in thee." She leaned forward, and her eyes flashed dangerously. "It would be in your best interest to see that we are not disappointed."

I gulped and nodded. "Yes Ma'am." A sudden thought occurred to me. It was a long shot, but then, I might as well ask. "Say, do you suppose you could get a message to Trixie's companions? If you're concerned about her sticking around with me, they could, ah, alleviate those concerns."

Just then the room shook. Several books fell off the shelf and collapsed to the floor. The woman swore something very unladylike and started searching through the papers on the desk before her. "That is probably not possible, Finn Kelly."

"Why not?

The room shook again, and then became painfully bright, to the point where I had to squint against it. Over the roar of the books falling down, I heard the woman shout one last thing.

"Because, you are waking up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I swore and thrashed back under my covers as someone shoved blazing needles into my retinas.

"Time to awaken, Finn Kelly! The time has come for you to aid the Great and Powerful Trixie in finding Pretentious Perfect Princess Purplesmart and her companions!"

"It's too early to alliterate! Go back to sleep!"

I heard and felt Trixie start to flog me with what I could only guess were a pair of pants. "Get up! We are burning Daylight and you haven't made me breakfast yet!"

I briefly debated telling her just where she could stick breakfast, but settled for growling. "Alright. Alright!" I threw my covers off, frustrated. "Just give me a minute to geehhHWHY AREN'T YOU WEARING PANTS!?"

Trixie stood before me, highlighted by the morning sun streaking through my windows, wearing the shirt from last night and a pair of lacy panties. Her thighs were shapely and well toned with muscle, and I briefly considered what she might do with them, but that thought was quickly quashed by the aforementioned pants belting me around the head again.

"I am not WEARING pants, as you have so kindly noticed, Finn Kelly, because I am-" she punctuated each word with a blow
"-trying-"
WHAM
"-to-"
BIFF
"-get-"
WHAP
"-you-"
FWUMP
"-UP!"

I covered my head with my arms and shouted back "Well, if you wanted to get me up, you should have just climbed into bed."

"Oh, hah hah. Very clever." Trixie rolled her eyes, but she was also faintly blushing. "Get your mind out of the gutter and your hind end out of bed."

"To hear is to obey, Your Worshipfulness. Just give me a minute to get dressed and I'll get things going. Just...put your pants on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quick trip to the bathroom to relieve myself, wash my hands and splash some water on my face, and I emerged from my bedroom ready to face the day. I'd hurredly dressed in a pair of khaki cargo pants and a pale green buttoned up shirt before I emerged, trying to smooth my hair into something at least vaguely resembling order. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, it looked precisely as if I'd been soundly beaten around the head by a pair of jeans.

The aforementioned garments were now resolutely filled in by my temporary companion, who was hurredly fumbling with the buttons.

I may be feeling petty and vindictive, but I decided she could handle it on her own.

"So, you want breakfast, huh?"

Trixie managed to fasten her buttons and gave me a triumphant smirk. "If it would not put you to too much trouble, Finn Kelly. It is easy enough to make breakfast for two as it is for one."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, hang on a second."

I stalked past her to get to the pantry. "Well, you have two options." I grabbed an item in each hand and turned to present them to her. "First, I can offer you bread."

She gave me a flat look. "Bread."

I nodded and gave her a . "Sourdough! Either cold or toasted, dry or buttered. The possibilities are endless." I held up the box I held in my other hand an gave it a shake. "Or, if you prefer, I have...Cheerios." I gave the box a shake for emphasis.

Trixie arched an eyebrow. "Toasted bread will be fine, Finn Kelly. Lightly buttered, and unburnt, if you can manage it."

"Certainly, Your Worship." I briefly wondered if playing up to her delusions of grandeur would come back to bite me, but what the hell, I might as well have fun with it. "And woulds't thou needs't me to butter thine bread once it has been toasted?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "As long as you're offering, sure."

I popped a pair of slices of toast in for her, an poured a bowl of the whole grain goodness for myself. As I ate, I pondered the situation before me. On the one hand, I had already offered to help this bizarre, demanding (though, admittedly, attractive) girl find her friends. On the other hand, I had no idea where said friends were located, assuming they'd been telling the truth, or what business I'd be interfering in. Finally, I had the odd dream this morning to contend with. I'd had lucid dreams before, but none like that one. For starters, it was almost like being awake, rather than the dream-like unlimited potential my usual lucid dreams held. For another, the dark haired woman in my dream also seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of what was going on.

Just what have you gotten yourself involved in, Finn? I asked myself as I munched on whole grain circles that promised low cholesterol, good karma and a credit score of 900.

Trixie's toast popped up an, to prove I'm a man of my word, I lightly buttered hers before resting both slices on a plate and slid it over to her.

I've known a few women who are dainty eaters. Trixie was not one of them. She attacked her toast with all the brutal savagery of a ravening wolf over a haunch of meat.

When the slaughter was over, she daintily wiped the crumbs from her mouth with a dishcloth and said. "Well, let's not stand around lollygagging, Finn Kelly."

I finished my cereal and gulped down whatever milk remained, before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Agreed. The sooner we start, the sooner we're finished." I grabbed my keys and a light jacket from where they hung by the door.

And, I thought the sooner I'll be rid of you.

Comments

[Skyblazer9]

Got a good laugh when Trixie needed help removing her pants. LOL

[Snaproll]

10147197
They say Comedy is Tragedy plus Distance.

Finn will be experiencing a lot of Comedy in short order.