Guilty Pleasures

Posted on Thu 4th Feb, 2021 @ 7:21am by Yuliette Marayan Dr.

790 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: Brown Sector: Zodiac. The Gemini Hotel

“If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you were trying to get us killed!” The leggy Orion in the askew party dress accused as she pushed back her mass of luscious locks.

The accused, a completely ripped Deltan in a torn suit, was cooly slashing the line off from the parachute with the bullet holes in it. He stuck his fingers through the fabric and looked dubious at the success of the escapade they’d just impossibly squeaked out of using archaic equipment. “Maybe you know me better than you think.” He shouldered his pack and started walking into the distant sunset, along the cliff side.

“Hey! You’re not leaving!” she protested, ambling after and catching him by his elbow.

He turned around sharply, causing her to stumble one step back as he fixed her with an intense stare, “And why is that?”

“Because,” She insisted with an impish grin and smoldering eyes, wisps of hair aflame in the suns rays, “you still owe me.”

Their lips locked all at once, the blaze of the sky flaring around the outline of the two forms cutting one united silhouette. The wind caught her hair and the parachute they had cut loose billowed and lifted off into the sky behind them.

Taking full advantage of the illusion of depth of the holovid projection, the camera pulled away from them with the perspective of the chute, rising into the clouded distance on a soaring musical score.

Watching the credits scroll, Yuliette was polishing up the last of the custard at the bottom of the breakfast bowl. She’d foregone the spoon in favor of licking it off her own fingers like she was twelve, and grinning like it too.

“The remake is twice as bad as the original,” she ascertained. “Knew it would be, but at least now I don’t regret missing the release date.” She motioned for the display to go back to the menu, and then scrolled a while. She’d missed a lot of holovid watching in the recent months. That wasn’t surprising. What was surprising to her was just how little she really cared. She was hardly going to be able to watch them all in a couple of days anyway before she was back in her own little apartment with nothing to watch but the Zodiac below. Not that the Zodiac wasn’t interesting. It might have been too interesting, actually. Less predictable than the guilty pleasure action-romance she’d just watched.

She switched the holo vid player completely off and leaned back into the cushy mountain of pillows she’d constructed to prop her up like a cloud. The remains of the custard she mopped from her hands and chin with the napkin, getting a little spot where she’d dropped some in the pit of her own neck and then tossing it back onto the breakfast tray beside her on the bed. It was afternoon, if the clock was to be believed, and she’d still not exactly polished Breakfast off. There was just too much to have eaten at once, but she’d prioritized the sweet, fleshy fruits, the fluffy veggie quiche, part of the oversized flaky biscuit thing. A little of the sausage. She’d almost gotten full by then, and had to leave what room she had left for the custard.

“Lights, fifty percent.” Yulitte finally admitted to herself that she should get out of bed. Half the day had gone by while she’d been catching up on holovids. She poured herself the rest of the coffee, which was surprisingly still warm from the sealed carafe. After that cup, it would be over. She would really get up then.

Her eyes fell to the side table. She had two cards now. One humble, plain piece of black plastic with a chip stamped into it: her pass to the Gutzman Library which also served for her breadline access, and maybe a few other Zodiac community things she had yet to explore. The second one to the Gemini Hotel and Casino: it was glitteringly holographic on the surface, shifting and dazzling under the surface as it or the viewer moved, and declaring her a preferred VIP guest to whom was credited fancy amenities, food, drink, and playing chips…

“If I were staring in a vid series,” Yuliette mused out loud to herself, thinking playfully, “I'd find a way to beat the house and pay back my loan with the owner’s own credits.” She sucked down the last of the coffee and looked at the glossy bottom of the cup. “But seeing as it’s not—” Yuliette threw back the covers. “I had better get to work.”

 

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