Paradise Lost [2430-1-2 Tue 9:00 pm]

[Titus Vere]

It was dark when Titus returned home, carrying his shopping bags. The suit would be ready in a week, and after the fitting gave him a nice clear alibi, he'd headed out to buy things for Skye. He had no idea how long she'd be with him, or if she would be there at all when he returned home, but it was best to pick some things up.

Some off-the-rack clothes that he estimated would fit her, shampoo and body wash, assorted female products, and a blank ID tag he could have customized for her if she was staying. The saleswomen had buttered Titus us, remarking on what a wonderful boyfriend he was to pick up these things. He gave her a small smile. It was impossible for him to be angry after a kill. For a few days, he would feel a wonderful peace. It would disappear eventually, it always did. But for now, it lingered wonderfully.

Titus arrived at his apartment door and pressed his thumb to the lock. It quickly scanned it and opened the door. Titus stepped inside and glanced around his apartment to see if Skye was still there, and if she was awake.

[Skye Thompson]

She was still half asleep when she heard the door open. Skye sat up and rubbed her eyes. For a moment she panicked. Where was she? This place didn't look like the Below at all. Then she remembered, and a smile spread slowly across her face. She, Skye Thompson, was in the Top, the place of hope, the place where dreams came true. It was even more beautiful than Adrian had described, but of course certain kinds of beauty were simple indescribable. But the Top was more than beautiful. The Top was a place of life, a place that many in the Below spent all their lives dreaming about but never saw. And now here she was. All she had to do was look up, and she could see her namesake, bigger, brighter, more real than she'd ever imagined it.

Skye glanced around Titus' apartment and noticed him standing near the door. She was sitting on the floor, but she couldn't remember falling asleep. She stood up and looked at him with the utmost gratitude. It was because of him that she was here. He'd brought her to the Top, given her the opportunity that changed her life. Still at that moment, she felt awkward just standing there, not able to think of anything to say or do. Behind the excitement of finally being in the place of her dreams there was another, darker feeling, the feeling that she didn't belong here.

[Titus Vere]

"Hello Skye." Titus greeted her, shutting the door behind him. She looked tired and off-balance, but undeniably excited. He was a bit envious, unable to remember a time in his life when he hadn't been too jaded to feel such unconstrained joy. "I'm glad to see you found your way."

He brought over the bags, setting them on the coffee table. The pictures on the wall rotated, changing from generic and unoffensive artwork, the default setting for the digital frames, to a series of abstract paintings. The artist had attempted to paint emotions as she experienced them and he had picked his favourites from the series: lust, rage, pain, triumph. The blacks and reds complimented the rest of his decor.

"I purchased some items I thought you might need. Please let me know if you need anything else." Titus unbuttoned his jacket, draping it over the back of his couch, along with his tie. "Are you hungry?"

[Skye Thompson]

"Hi." Was her response to Titus' greeting. She would have said something more, but she didn't know what to say. It had been a long time since she'd had a real conversation with someone. Skye had not really talked to her father, and the men who came to his bar weren't interested in what she had to say, unless she was saying yes to their obscene invitations. But she'd always said no. The problem remained, however, that her father wouldn't take no for an answer. She'd put up with it for too long, and then one night, she decided she just couldn't take it anymore. So she'd run away, and now she was here, here where her father could never get to her.

She walked over to the table an examined the bags Titus had brought. He'd gotten all of this for her? It must have cost a fortune! "Thank you so much." She murmured, turning to him, "But you shouldn't have spent so much money on me." It took Skye a moment to realize who she was talking to. While buying all this stuff would have cost most Lowers their savings, it was probably nothing to Titus. She felt her face growing hot as the awkwardness of her words hung in the air.

Relief spread through her at his next question. Hopefully they could both just forget what she'd said. Eager to move the conversation away from her words, she answered quickly. "A little bit." That wasn't strictly true of course. If Skye was used to be well fed she would have said she was starving, but now that she knew what it actually meant to be starving, her views on the subject had changed considerably.

[Titus Vere]

Titus walked into the kitchen. The one major advantage to the layout of a bachelor apartment was that he would carry on a conversation unhindered no matter where he stood in the lower floor of his apartment. It was all one large open room, except for the washroom discreetly tucked away in the far right corner. There were additional bathrooms upstairs attached to Titus' room and guest rooms, but down here, there was nothing to block his view of Skye, except for a few lamps here and there.

He politely disregarded her comment about the items he'd purchased, not wanting to embarrass her and knowing that any explanation of his riches would only serve to remind her of her poverty. If she remained here and they grew more open with one another, he would explain to her that money meant nothing to him. He had everything he could want. There was nothing left to spend his money on but frivolous things and meals.

"I though I would make some sort of chicken." He checked his fridge. Four defrosted chicken breasts were waiting. About half an hour ago, the fridge had submerged the defrosted breasts into the marinade Titus has made earlier that morning, and they would be ready to cook immediatly.

It didn't appear much had been touched in the fridge, which mean Skye had likely come here and waited. She would likely be very hungry, but was clearly too polite, or too shy, to say so. He would have to work on that.

"Do you have any allergies?" He asked as he took the tray out of the fridge and settled it on the countertop. Titus located his grill, as well as a pot. Some pasta would good nicely with the chicken.

[Skye Thompson]

She simply nodded as Titus told her his plans for dinner. It felt strange to have someone else deciding what she was going to eat, but it wasn't a bad feeling. It was just that it had been years since anyone besides her cared if she ate at all, let alone what she ate. She hadn't had chicken in a long time either. With a little saving up, she'd been able to afford it when Adrian was still sending money home, but her father's bar hadn't made enough to buy real meat for a while.

For the first time since running away, Skye wondered what her father would do without her. Since she was ten years old she had done all the cooking. She had been the one who served the costumers. She'd handled what money there was after Adrian died. Jack Thompson could not cook, and he had no idea what do do with money. Skye had a brief mental image of him trying to eat credits, but the realization that this was only slightly far fetched stopped her from laughing.

"Do you have any allergies?" Titus' question jolted Skye back to the present. Once again, she almost laughed. She almost laughed to think that people here actually worried about things like allergies. Skye had been raised with the typical Lower mentality; you ate whatever you fond and liked it. But she didn't laugh. That dark feeling was back. The feeling that everything in the Top was so different from what she was used to, that she just didn't belong here. The feeling that no matter what she did, she would never belong here. The feeling that the last twelve hours was to good to be true. She looked around at the apartment, and her eyes fell on Titus. "Oh," she whispered, realizing that she hadn't answered his question, "No, I don't."

[Titus Vere]

He watched her carefully, noting the shifting in her features as emotions flashed through her. Titus wasn't sure how to assure her that she was fine here and that she couldn't offend him. He was not an outwardly emotional person, and life at the Top had taught him to keep his real thoughts and feelings wrapped up tight.

As he filled a pot with water, he spoke simply to make conversation. "An article I read once mentioned that there are far fewer cases of allergies in the Below than in the Top." He switched on a burner, letting the pot heat itself. Titus took the breasts over to the small grill sitting on the far end of the counter and lay them out, setting the heat a little lower than usual so the pasta and chicken would finish at the same time.

She was still near the couches. Titus gestured for her to take a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. The stools on the other side were comfortable, and Titus preferred to eat there rather than at the table. There was a much better view of the outside from the island, and in case of an attack, the island would absorb more weapon fire than the table.

[Skye Thompson]

Skye was glad that Titus continued speaking, talking to him gave her a way to tune out the dark feeling inside her. "Yeah," she responded, trying to keep the conversation going, "I've never met anybody who had allergies, no one really worries about them in the Below. I mean, it's not something you think about in a place where finding bread on the ground means free food."

She laughed humorlessly, then continued, "My brother Adrian told me that most people in the Top get sick more often then people in the Below. I think that's kind of odd considering how dirty everything is down there." She was still marveling at how clean things were here. It was like the Top had it's own special glow that the rest of the world didn't get to share in. No, it was like the Top was it's own world, completely separate from the Below or the Inbetween. When Skye really thought about it, it was hard to believe that just last night she had been sleeping in the streets, and now she was here, thousands of miles away from the home she'd only dreamed of leaving. She supposed she might have to get used to things that were hard to believe, just as she'd have to get used to being in the Top. If she got to stay.

Titus motioned for her to sit down, and Skye shook the though away as she did so. She was going to stay. And if she couldn't, she'd stow away on a ship leaving the planet. Either way, she was not going back to the Below. Ever.

[Titus Vere]

Titus measured out enough pasta to serve the both of them and got it into the boiling water. Then he turned his attention to the fridge, seeking out some ready-made sauce he knew he had around for situations like this. He found some on the door of the fridge and got it into a saucepan to start cooking.

While he split his attention between the grill, saucepan and pot, he managed to keep up the conversation. A brother? Interesting. She hadn't mentioned him in the Below, which likely meant he was gone or dead. "Your brother was quite right. I suspect the dirt has a great deal to do with why it is much easier for someone from the Top to get sick than from the Below. If you are constantly surrounded by illness and disease, your body learns to fight it, where if you are not, then your body never will."

It had been a while since he cooked for anyone. Titus had been rather passionate about cooking for a year, and then as quickly as his obsession had come, it went. He still enjoyed cooking for himself, but he had no interest in being a professional chef.

Titus continued as he turned the chicken breasts on the grill, turning the heat up a little, "If you are born with a deadly allergy or a life-long condition that requires treatment and medication, you're more likely to receive treatment if your parents have money than if your parents do not. I am not certain of the statistics, but I would assume that infant mortality is somewhere between forty and fifty times more likely in the Below than in the Top."

[Skye Thompson]

The smell of food cooking was starting to make her mouth water, but Skye tried to keep her attention focused on what Titus was saying. She nodded slowly. What he said certainly sounded logical, although she'd never thought of it that way before. It puzzled her the way Titus had said 'your brother was' rather than 'your brother is', as if he knew without asking that Adrian was gone. For a brief moment, she wondered if he could read minds. But no, that was impossible, Adrian had traveled the solar system, and he'd told her everything he saw and did. Her brother had never said anything about mind reading. Then again, she was beginning to wonder whether everything he'd told her was entirely accurate...

She nodded again as Titus continued, but it bothered her to hear him talk so casually about people dying. Maybe that was just the way things went on the Top. Skye supposed people might feel more confident talking about death when they had never seen it happen right before their eyes. It must be easy, she thought, to feel removed from death when you hadn't lain awake in the freezing cold streets, hearing the voice of death whisper in your ear, and wondering if you'd survive the night. But that was in the past now. She was in the Top, so she would have to pretend it didn't bother her to talk about death.

"Yeah," she said as dispassionately as she could, "Your probably right. And of course the general mortality rate is much higher in the Below, when basically everyone is armed, and people tend to get trigger-happy when they're drunk..." Her voice had risen uncontrollably, and she could no longer disguise it's bitter tone. She would have gone on, she would have talked about how she knew this, how many times she'd seen it happen, but she suddenly realized what she was saying and clapped a hand over her mouth.

[Titus Vere]

Titus chided himself silently. He hadn't thought, he'd just spoken, and now he'd upset her. How could he have expected her to carry on a conversation about death in the Below, particularly the death of children, when she was so much more embroiled in the subject matter than he? When she clearly felt death, whereas Titus felt nothing.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. "I should have thought before I spoke. I'm..." Titus paused. Normally he would have smoothed the conversation over quickly, moved on to something lighter and less offensive with no explanation of the sudden darkness. But he could tell her, couldn't he? She was no one. She reported to no one. And what he said to her would be between only Titus and Skye.

"I can be very inconsiderate about certain subjects, particularly death. Please let me know when I've made you uncomfortable or crossed a line. I cannot always tell when I have." He hoped she would understand that he wasn't angry at her, and that he was telling the truth.

He quickly turned back to the food before it burned. The saucepan was moved to the back burner to simmer, and a quick stir of the pot revealed that the pasta was ready more or less. He grabbed a strainer and carefully emptied the pot over the sink, trying to find a subject they could both related to that would not cause emotional distress or embarrassment. "Do you like music?"

[Skye Thompson]

His apology surprised her, but not as much as her own words had. Skye was usually very good at hiding her emotions when she needed to, so what had made her lose control? But then, she was used to hiding her fear from others, and this had been something else, something different. It wasn't quite anger, and it wasn't sadness, but it had the qualities of both. Having such an emotion made her feel afraid of herself, afraid of what she might do if she didn't keep it hidden.

Once again, she sought Titus' voice as a refuge from her own thoughts. His words were strange to her. How could anyone go through his whole life without caring about death? But his voice had a ring of truth to it, and she decided not to press the subject, she didn't really want to talk about it anyway. Besides, Titus already had another question for her, and Skye new what her answer was.

"Yes, I do. Adrian used to..." she trailed off for a moment, wondering if she was getting to personal, but then, Titus had been honest with her. "When Adrian used to come home, he'd bring me music from the other planets. Sometimes I'd close my eyes and just listen to it, and I'd pretend I was off somewhere else, on Antheia or somewhere..." She smiled at the memory. She was still surprised by Titus' kindness, by everything that had happened since she'd woken up that morning. In Skye's view, there were two types of people; people like Adrian, and people like her father. She'd already decided that Titus was one of her brother's people.

[Titus Vere]

There, a safe topic of conversation. Her brother seemed to be a source of joy for Skye. He had likely not abandoned her then, or else she would hold it against him. This meant he was dead, or presumed dead. Which meant Skye had a loved but dead brother, and a hated, living father, and a yet unrevealed enigma of a mother. He was sure he'd find out more, but not tonight.

"That was very kind of your brother." Titus got a pair of plates from the cupboard and finished preparing dinner for the both of them, "I have always had a fondness for the Elvish woodwinds. Their symphonies have an ethereal quality to them that human performers are unable to replicate. They don't hold their notes any longer than other species, but the notes feel as if they are longer."

Plates prepared, Titus set one in front of Skye, fetching a knife and fork for her, and a glass of water. Once she was settled, he settled himself with his own plate and a glass of wine on the other side of the island.

[Skye Thompson]

Skye nodded once more. Adrian was the nicest person in the world, the only one in her family she'd ever felt truly loved by. Titus reminded her a lot of her brother, particularly the way he seemed to have a lot of the same opinions as she did, despite looking at things from a different view point. The way he spoke about Elven music mirrored her own feelings almost exactly, a fact that made her smile as she responded. "I remember the first time I ever heard Elven music. I thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world." She didn't add that it had made her smile even as tears streamed down her face. That was a private detail.

A plate of food was set down in front of her. It looked and smelled delicious, and Skye's first impulse was to get it into her mouth before someone took it away. But there was no one else here besides Titus, and she very much doubted he was planning on stealing her food. She picked up her knife and fork, carefully cut off a small piece of chicken, and put it into her mouth. It was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, and not just because she was hungry. She starred wide-eyed at Titus. "This is amazing! Are you a cook?" She took another eager bite as she waited for his answer.

[Titus Vere]

"Their choral arrangements are even more haunting. One of my favourites is mist glas, 'wandering joy' in Common. It tells the story of a young Elven warrior who returns from battle to find his beloved has perished, and when he cannot accept her death, he journeys to the lands of the dead to retrieve her soul." Titus carefully tasted the pasta and then the chicken. He was satisfied by the taste and texture. "I have a subscription to a database of off-world music, please feel free to browse through it at your leisure."

Titus was unused to compliments. Cooking and serving your own food at your party was passé in the circles Titus travelled, and Digeo had not lived as long as he had by eating food prepared by others. And the few times he had received compliments, they had been subdued. Skye's enjoyment of Titus' work brought a smile to his face.

"Thank you." He said, bowing his head a little."I trained to be a chef, but I lost interest as I approached the end of the program and I left before graduation. The skills, however, have served me well."