MHOS Part 19: Hell is forever

We get to Pride and suddenly I feel under dressed.. and Gary feels like a Jalopy.. This place is pristine.. high end.. How is this place even a part of hell? It's like Cannibaltown.. but with technology.. and high rises.. and just as I start to get excited I get shoulder checked..

"Hey!" I bark, "what the fuck?" A short woman with an elegant white dress turns around and looks me up and down and says "I think you're in the wrong place dear, THIS place is for the Elite" And suddenly Pride makes sense.. I match her energy and say "You couldn't even afford the latest fashion and you're talking to me about belonging?"

Her eyes glow red "I'll have you know this outfit is the very latest in fashion!" She says as she whips her skirt around indignantly, making the sewn in crystals glitter in the light. My smile flattens and I reply "Last week" and flames come out of her ears and she screams, irritated, as she turns around and marches to shop with a tailor. She strips her stylish yet flowy dress off as she enters the store and bellows about needing a new dress right fucking now.

I pick the dress up off the floor and walk out with it unnoticed as I return to Peaches and I hand her the dress. "It's white, and pretty. I thought you'd like it" I say. She takes it from me and examines it.. it has a silk slip with a chiffon middle layer for body and has lace with crystals sewn throughout it.. and much nicer than the tattered white dress Peaches is wearing right now.

Peaches strips right in the middle of the road and slides her new dress on.. It fits her like a glove and the fabric makes her skin glow.. I take her old dress, roll it up and tuck it under my arm as I take her by the hand and we continue wandering the square.

Obviously not from Pride we have a second person passing is by huffing and saying "tourists" I smile and say to Peaches "See, when they are too dumb to answer basic questions they will insult you immediately, that's what we call deflection." Peaches giggles and his face turns red and as he says "You dare test the intelligence of a man of Pride? I could outwit you on my lamest day!"

I scoff and say "You couldn't point out the central hub for archives with a laser pointer and a map." And he says "Oh yeah?! What is THAT?" As he points at a building to the left of us. I look over at the building and reply "NOT a map" and I take Peaches by the hand and walk away leaving him screaming in the streets for a map.

We enter the building and there are books everywhere, columns of books.. rows of books.. books in every corner, every nook & every cranny.. I couldn't read this much in a lifetime.. it's a good thing that Hell is forever.. My face glows with excitement I grab Peaches in my arms, pick her up and spin her.. Knowledge is power and she just handed me the universe..

I set her down and take her by the hand as I read what information each aisle has.. we find a book dedicated to the lore of Sirens and I copy it all and slide the copies into my duffle bag as we return the book to its shelf. I take Peaches to the Lore of The Woman in White and we print off that and put it in the bag print side facing the other book so they don't get mixed together.

I grab the book on Deal making while Peaches grabs one about the seduction class and once we are done gathering knowledge we head back out to the square and look at the shops along the way to decide where we'd like to eat. We settle in a cafe with a patio and grab ourselves some sandwiches. I like to people watch.. it's a fantastic way to learn. I like to multitask as well.. also a fantastic way to learn.

I put my messenger bag on the table and reach for the book about seduction class. I finger through the pages until I get to the end of the first chapter, a note book & a pencil and I pull them out of my bag and start reading & taking notes the way I used to back on earth as I was grading papers. One side of the notepad for the material in front of me, the other side of the notepad for the people. I'm so engrossed in the customers and the reading material that I didn't notice there was a staff member standing right behind me, tapping her foot. Peaches is the one who notices first. She taps my foot under the table. I look up at her and she looks at the woman behind me. I turn around to find a well pressed woman glaring down at me disapprovingly.

"You come to MY shop and put that hideous bag on MY table and pull out loose papers to read in MY establishment like some common teacher?" Flabbergasted that my profession was being looked down on in Hell where knowledge is power took me a second to recover from. "I AM a teacher and these are copied archives from the central archive station."

"And you didn't get them book bound before you left? You MUST be a tourist with how you are mucking up the property values around here with your loose leaf papers and your dumpster diving bag. Go back to the archives and get that book bound and get out of my cafe with that atrocious thing you call a bag!" she demands. I pull my wallet out of my bag and go to hand her money for the food and beverages and she says "You think I'd want YOUR money? I wouldn't be caught double dead lowering my stock value by serving the likes of you."

Free meal and advice.. Good by me! Peaches and I start to gather our belongings when the man from earlier comes storming up to us with a map and he says "Here you go, look at this! What's this?" as he points directly at the central archive building on it and I look up at him disgusted and say "Not a laser pointer" He freezes for a second then he starts tearing up the map screaming for a laser pointer. We laugh about it as we head back to Central Archives with our 4 books and ask about binding.

A few of the papers are crinkled and the woman behind the desk says "Ugh, this will NOT do" and she looks up the books on her computer and begins printing them out. As the first one prints she hands it to a man behind her who begins to bind the book right before our eyes in a beautiful white and gold leather cover. When he is done he grabs a set of leather stamps & some gold ink and stamps the names of the books across the front and down the spine and finishing it off with a red & gold apple.. reminding me of the necklace I bought.. exactly like the necklace I bought.. He hands each one back to the woman at the reception desk. She pulls out a beautiful white and gold canvas book bag and slides them in and hands the book bag to me and walks away scowling without saying a word.

A free dress, free food, and 4 free books filled with free information.. All in a single visit. How is this Hell again? I wonder as we leave Central archives. When we exit the building the same man approaches us a third time and points a laser pointer at the building we are all standing on the steps of and says "Central Archives! I pointed at it with a laser pointer!" And I laugh, loudly, ignorantly, and say, "And yet, no map!" He throws his head back, screams up at the sky and throws the laser pointer as he storms off screaming about "Get me a map and a laser pointer!"

Peaches and I look at each other, holding back our laughter and I say "Time to go home?" and she nods yes as we get back to Gary and head back to Obsession. When we get back to Peaches place I take the books on Sirens, deals & the seduction class and put them in my duffle bag. I leave the book on The Woman in White and Peaches old dress in the shiny new bag and hand it to her. She grips onto the handle gleefully and hugs me tight.

"Thank you" she says and as she ends the hug she asks "Will you be back tonight to lay down with me until I fall asleep?" she looks up at me hopeful and I smile back at her and say "Of course, I'll set a timer on my watch for 10:30 and be back by 11" Her face lights up and she kisses me on the cheek and says "I'll see you tonight!" and she heads up the path to her home, turns around and sees me watching her get inside safely and says "Go! Hunt! I'll see you tonight." and she enters her home, refusing to look up at me as she closes her door.. smiling