Terra

Chapter 3

Moryn flew down to Earth, lazily, taking his time. The year didn’t start until he decided what he was going to have this lady do, so why rush now? Besides he enjoyed flying, one of the few less...off-putting hobbies he had. He liked the way the air rushed over his face and caught in his wings and clothing. He closed his eyes, relaxing as he floated his way down to the ground. He landed somewhere in Turon City, somewhat near this Terra woman, so he could get a feel for the city as well as the person. He was glad Liara had chosen a woman; men were more violent and easy to persuade that way, but women took a subtler touch, one that was much more fun. They took cunning and charm, way more entertaining than brute force. If it was too easy, he got bored, and a bored Moryn was a bad thing for Liara. As for the charm, Moryn could absolutely ooze charm, when he chose to. It also helped that all three triplet gods were beautiful. If Moryn could have any woman he chose, Liara and Adlai could pull any man they wanted. Of course, the only reason to seduce humans was to see them slowly self-destruct, so Moryn didn’t spend that much attention on specific humans.

This would be different. Sure, he had to keep that small amount of attention on the rest of the universe to keep people dying as they should; if he didn’t do that, everything would simply stop dying and there would be problems. Imagine getting run over by a steamroller, but being able to feel every second of it and then being aware of the pieces of you being carried away by the steamroller as well as all those pieces smashed into mush on the floor, but you’re still not dead. Moryn smiled. To anyone on the street, Moryn looked like a normal human being, strolling down the streets with his hands in his pockets and a little grin on his face. They couldn’t see his wings, his loose black shirt and pants, didn’t see into the depths of his dark black eyes, and definitely couldn’t see the thoughts percolating through his brain. If they could, they’d probably run away in fear. He had made it so the humans around him saw something different without actually changing his appearance. He didn’t want to do that quite yet. Instead, he put on a glamour that showed deep blue eyes, well-groomed hair, blue jeans and sneakers, and a t-shirt for some popular thing these days. It made it easy enough to walk around without feeling bare without his wings and confined without his customary clothing and lack of shoes.

Moryn rounded a corner and paused. Parker Lane and Hampton Street. He knew Terra should be right in the coffee shop across the street and this would prove to be a good enough vantage point to observe her for a while. Truth be told, he already knew most everything about her. She was 26 years old working as a jack of all trades at a diner/coffee shop thing called “Randi’s.” She could make 37 of the 43 items on the menu flawlessly, wipe down a table like nobody’s business, and secretly thought her manager was sexy, though she would never admit it out loud. She read her scriptures every morning when she woke up, prayed every night before bed, and went to church services on Wednesday and Sunday nights, as well as Sunday morning teachings. She had been a B student in school and never went to college, because her parents told her that women shouldn’t be smarter than their husbands. She was pretty plain, not ugly and not beautiful, and she had only had a boyfriend in 7th grade (which was only because she had b***s before her other female classmates. Once her peers developed as well, all the boys turned their attention to more attractive girls.) whom she let get to second base, then promptly prayed in remorse and never let him do so again. She lived two blocks down the Parker Lane, in 450, the fifth flat on the fourth floor to the left of the staircase in the second building of Shady Elm Apartments. She always slept on her left side, facing her alarm clock, and promptly awoke at 7:00 a.m. after falling asleep at midnight. Her walls were plastered with posters of religious bands, weird cartoon character things, and horses, and everything in her apartment was immaculately placed.

Moryn was thoroughly annoyed with her. Despite the routinely going to church and religiosity, Terra was positively, suffocatingly dull. Maybe that was the goal; instead of trying to find someone super devout, Liara chose someone he couldn’t stand because she was boring. He had to admit, the second option was more likely to make him stop, but the thought of losing to Liara. and particularly having to be this boring b***h’s slave, was too horrible to not continue. He sighed, leaned against the post for the stoplight, and continued watching her through the storefront windows.

At the moment, Terra was cleaning off a table from a customer who hadn’t liked his pastry and decided to smear it all over the table and chair, then added a healthy dose of coffee dregs on top. She only had her stupid little rag to clean it all up, because corporate decided those were more cost-efficient, but she went to it with a smile anyway. No point in being angry over things she couldn’t control. She went to fill up the mop bucket, but she got called back out front by a customer wanting a refill on coffee. She filled the cup and dealt with the customer complaining that it took her so long to come and wait on him, even though it had only been 45 seconds at the most, then ran back into the back room and barely turned off the tap before the bucket overflowed. After tipping the bucket enough to allow some maneuvering room, she mopped up the mess all over the floor. It took her 10 minutes to get the floor mopped, considering all the distractions of people wanting more food and coffee and soda and a new shake, please, this one melted. When she finally finished it up, there were only one or two regulars sitting at the counter where the other girl could get to them.

Terra collapsed exhaustedly into one of the chairs at the table. She stripped the yellow safety gloves off; damn, she had broken one of her nails again. Her hands looked so much more feminine when she had long nails, but this job was hazardous to those. She sighed and brushed her light brown hair off her face and out of the way of her hazel eyes. She looked down at her slightly tanned arms, then at the pink dress and apron inspired by the 50’s. She thought that if her face weren’t quite so plain, her body a little more shapely, then perhaps she could look as cute at the counter-girl, Elise. Pretty blond hair, baby blue eyes, and a tiny waist without losing anything up top or down below, that was Elise. Terra wished she could be like Elise; no one ever yelled at her, because they didn’t want to yell at the pretty girl with a bright smile. Terra closed her eyes and sighed again, listening to the sounds of the diner around her, glad for the moment of peace.

It was then that Terra heard a slight chuckle. She opened her eyes and saw a young man, maybe in his twenties, and super cute smiling into his mug of coffee. His black hair was just shy of neat and kind of fell into his eyes in a way that made her want to get up and push it off his face for him, looking deep into those soft indigo eyes. Without realizing she was doing so, she ran her eyes up and down over him. He was wearing a short-sleeved, blue and black button-up with the buttons undone over a white t-shirt, black denim jeans, and laceless sneakers meant for skating. He was slender, but she could see the toned muscles under the fair skin on his arms and assumed the rest of him would be the same. He turned and smiled at her, the skin around his eyes wrinkled adorably, and winked, “Enjoying the view?”

Red crept up her neck and cheeks. She had been staring, hadn’t she? She leapt to her feet and started stammering out an apology, quickly looking down at the table and wiping it all over again before running to the back room to escape. The back room, behind the kitchen, was barely bigger than a closet, even though it held all the staff’s personal effects, the cleaning supplies, and a small basin with a faucet and drain in the floor to fill the mop buckets. It was also the room with the back door staff entrance and the stairs to the food storage. Terra sat down on an overturned bucket and held her  face in her hands. She was so embarrassed! Not only had she been staring, she had been caught. She started feeling really guilty for the feelings she had while obviously lusting after this man, and started asking God for forgiveness. God was very specific about what he wanted, and lusting after men was not one of those things. She finished her short prayer with a quiet, “Amen,” then stood up to complete her shift. As she was straightening up her skirt and making sure her face had cooled down, she heard a slight knocking sound.

Standing there in the doorway was the man at whom she had been staring. Next to him, being pushed along by the mop in his hands, was the mop bucket she had abandoned in the middle of the restaurant. “I think you forgot this out front, and your coworker told me where to take it.” He brought the mop bucket over to where Terra was now standing frozen, staring at the floor like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. She really just couldn’t meet his eyes for the second time. Why couldn’t Elise have just brought the bucket back?! She took the mop from him and wheeled it over the basin to empty, but he didn’t leave when she did so. He just stood there, hands in his pockets, sort of smirking at her.

“So, um, can I help you with anything?” Terra’s voice sounded so tiny, and she barely got those words squeaked out.

“Nah. Just wanted to make sure you got your bucket back….?”

“.....Terra. My name’s Terra.”

“Alright, just wanted to make sure you got your bucket back, Terra.”

“Th-thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem.” He turned to walk out, and called back over his shoulder, “My name’s David. See you around, Terra.” With a half-wave, he breezed out of the back room and Terra heard the little bell on the front door jingle, signifying David’s departure. As soon as she heard the bell, Terra headed out of the back room.

Elise watched as Terra sort of dazedly walked out of the back room to finish wiping down tables. She frowned as she examined the not ugly, but not anywhere near pretty either, girl and found herself incredibly annoyed. Why would that incredibly gorgeous boy go anywhere near her coworker when Elise was right here? Especially because she was the kind of girl to treat a man like that right; she knew her way around a man’s body the way a fat man knows fast food. Whatever. She went back to flirting with the old men at the counter, attempting to garner a larger tip. She couldn’t help a man with no taste.

Reviews

[seanhoag]

I enjoyed this chapter, as well. Found a few grammatical errors and possible word-choice options again for you to think about. Also, might want to add a bit more about what Moryn thinks about all of this, unless you're saving that for the next chapter or something. Just a thought.

"Besides he enjoyed" to "besides, he enjoyed"

"at a diner/coffee shop thing" You should take "thing" out. Other than in dialogue, thing is a poor word to use in writing, in my opinion.

"she live two blocks down the Parker Lane" to "two blocks down Parker Lane"

"weird cartoon character things" again, should probably take out "thing."

"but the thought of losing to Liara. and particularly having to be" to "but the thought of losing to Liara and, particularly, having to be"

"but she got called back out front" Might sound better to say: "but she called back to the front"

"to the customer complaining that it took her so long to" to "to the customer, who was complaining about how long it took for her to"

"mess all over the floor" to "mess on the floor"