Pocket Dungeon 3, page 20
Parking at the Museum Campus cost an entire arm and a leg, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise. Considering I was rolling in cash nowadays, I wasn’t even bothered by the exorbitant price of the parking ticket alone. It was still shocking to me that in such a short period of time, my life had changed so exponentially, and I was now able to do things like drop thirty bucks to park my car and it didn’t make me break out into hives.
I mean, I still didn’t like it, but I was, at the very least, hiveless. Small victories and all of that.
“Whoa,” Elaene breathed out as she stared up at the aquarium as we approached. Her eyes were trained on the fairly large statue of a metal penguin, or was it a puffin, that marked one of the entrances to the aquarium.
“Well, I love that,” Iris agreed as a grin split her face.
Yasha cocked her head to the side as she stared at the penguin, like she was waiting for it to move or to try and attack her.
There was something so delightful to me about all three women’s different reactions to seeing something like that for the first time, and it made my heart leap up into my chest.
I really cared about all of these women, even Elaene who was still fairly new to our little family, and might not stay. But I liked her a lot, and she brought a warmth and sensitivity to our group that hadn’t really been there before, or at least that’s what I felt.
And she seemed to bring out different sides of Iris and Yasha. Both of the women had acted protective of her immediately, like they wanted to make sure she was safe from all harm, and it was something I could appreciate.
I was glad they got along so well, and I really did hope Elaene chose to stay, no matter how unlikely that decision was in the grand scheme of things.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s head inside. Unfortunately, just because of everything else we have to do today, we can’t spend all day here, but I want to spend as much time as we can.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan,” Elaene said. Her gaze was still glued to the statue outside the museum entrance, and a light danced in her green-gray eyes.
I felt a small, thrilling surge move through me at her expression. I was glad to have already made a good choice in terms of our date. This wasn’t really a matter of first impressions, but still. A first date definitely did matter in my book, no matter how unconventional our first meeting really was. I had decided I wanted Elaene to stay with us, and I figured a good date might work in my favor.
The four of us headed inside the aquarium, and as soon as we stepped through the doors, I was overwhelmed with the scent of saltwater. My chest filled with a lightweight giddiness. Sure, I was a fully-grown man, but that didn’t mean I didn’t still get excited about things like going to aquariums with the women I loved.
Maybe I was just a child at heart. Sue me.
After paying for all of our tickets, the four of us made our way upstairs to the main lobby of the aquarium where a massive, round tank sat and took up most of the room.
Honestly, massive felt like an understatement as I stared up at the giant circular tank. It was full of fish and other sea life, and it didn’t really matter how many times I saw it. Each time I did, I was overwhelmed with happiness and a reminder of just how vast the world outside of my immediate sphere really was.
The three women with me all seemed to have very similar, if slightly differing reactions.
Iris sucked in an impressed breath and gazed upward toward the top of the tank where a turtle with an injury to its shell bobbed. I’d seen the turtle quite a few times in my various visits to Shedd over the years, and I was always delighted to see it was still there. It had survived some sort of accident, I thought it was with a propeller, and because of that, its shell made it strangely buoyant. Now it bobbed and floated higher up in the tank than it would have done otherwise.
Frankly, I thought he would have made a great mascot for the city, but that was just my opinion.
Yasha’s golden eyes had gone wider than I’d ever seen them as she stared at the tank in clear and obvious awe. She stepped forward around small children darting past her legs and pressed her palms to the glass. She leaned so far forward I was almost concerned she was going to plaster her face to the edge of the tank, too.
“Oh, my,” she exhaled the words and left a slight, foggy smudge on the aquarium wall. “I did not know a place like this existed.”
“A place that held fish?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “A place where fish could even exist.”
“You don’t have oceans at all back in your world?” I asked.
I knew her world was made of desserts and was, over all, incredibly dry, but for some reason, I’d never considered that there weren’t even oceans where she was from. It felt too strange and unfamiliar to even consider, despite what I’d already known about her former home.
Instead of answering me out loud, Yasha gave a shake of her head so strong it nearly knocked off her beanie. Thankfully the fox-woman seemed to realize that and reached up to secure it on her head before planting her hand back against the tank.
It was Elaene’s reaction to the sight, though, that was the most extreme.
The Atlantean woman sucked in a sharp, surprised breath and brought both of her hands to her chest and clutched it tightly. She looked as if she could barely believe her eyes, and to my surprise, her eyes actually began to well with tears. Her full lower lip quivered like she was actually going to start crying at any second now.
“Are you okay?” I asked her and reached out to gently press my hand to her shoulder. “Do we need to leave? I wasn’t sure if this would be too much.”
“No,” she replied quickly and with a harsh shake of her head. “No. It isn’t too much. It’s just… so beautiful. I did not think I would ever be able to see something like this again.”
She took a step closer to the tank, but she didn’t move to put her hands against it like Yasha had. Instead, her eyes simply roved over the gigantic circular tank. Her usually sultry-looking eyes were round and wide as they roved over each of the creatures in the tank with all of the fondness and gentleness of a caress.
Her voice was just as watery as her eyes, and for a second, I was really, really worried I was about to have a crying Atlantean to deal with in the middle of the aquarium at ten in the morning, as numerous small children ran around unmoored from their guardians.
It definitely would have been a weird vibe, but I supposed I’d been through weirder.
“I thought you might like it,” I told her. “And this is just the first section. There’s so much more to see.”
“I can’t imagine what else there might be,” she said. “This alone is already... so perfect. Thank you, Wes.”
She smiled at me, and my entire insides turned to jelly.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s keep moving. We don’t wanna stand here all day when there are tons of other exhibits. There’s also an area where you can touch manta rays.”
Yasha turned to me slowly with a huge smile on her face.
“You mean we can touch some of these creatures?” she asked. She was practically bouncing up and down with joy, and it was definitely one of the cutest things I’d ever seen in my entire life, that was for sure.
At the sound of that, Yasha all but started sprinting toward the nearby offshoot that led to the Amazon Rainforest section of the aquarium. It had all sorts of greenery and fake trees, and the entire area was definitely way more humid than the other sections of the aquarium.
Iris looked over at me and grinned before she quickly hurried after Yasha, which left Elaene and I to walk together. The Atlantean’s shoulder brushed ever so gently against mine with each step we took, and the two of us moved in a peaceful silence as she wiped at her still teary eyes.
“I’m really glad you like the aquarium,” I told her as we slowly started to catch up to my other two women.
“It is such a kind gesture,” she said. “Bringing me here. Yasha is right. You’re a kind man. A good man.”
“I don’t know if I would go that far.” I sheepishly reached up to rub the back of my neck and offered her a slight, crooked smile. “But I try. I just figured it might be nice, you know? It seemed like it might be something that would make you feel more at home. And considering everything you’d told me about Black, I kind of figured he didn’t exactly take you out to do anything pleasant.”
“No.” Elaene’s face darkened temporarily. “No, he didn’t. I can’t think of a single moment I was in his captivity that was anything other than miserable. Even the best, brightest moments in all that darkness were when I was with the other women he held prisoner. But even as wonderful as the other women were, it’s hard to feel anything but pain when in a situation like that.”
“We’re going to get them out of there,” I promised as the two of us came to stand in front of a tank filled with tiny, brightly colored frogs.
Each of the creatures glittered like the jewels still packed away in the safe in my apartment, and even though I knew it would definitely kill me to touch them, I really wanted to.
They were just so brightly colored they hardly looked real.
Elaene’s head tilted to the side as she bent down to study the frogs on an eye level. Her lips twitched up into a soft smile as she placed one of her fingers against the glass, like she could gently pet the frog through it.
I wondered if she would have the same reaction to the poisonous frogs that a human would have. And I wondered what would happen to Yasha too, for that matter.
There was so much I didn’t know about either of these women when it came to things like that, and a thousand more things I never would even think to ask unless in situations like this, where poisonous frogs were literally just on the other side of a glass pane.
“I know,” Elaene said.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, thanks to my mental tangent about frogs, but then it came to me.
“How many women are there?” I asked, and the two of us started moving through the muggy exhibit once again.
There was a lot of glass and murky water, as well as trees with massive, arched roots in the tanks.
Sure, we were in Chicago, but it really did feel like we’d walked into an entirely different world, which I guess we sort of did on a regular basis. It didn’t make this feel any less special, however.
“Three,” Elaene said. “And I hope they are still there when we arrive to free them. They do not deserve any of this, no more than I did.”
A solemn silence fell over us for a moment as we continued to stare at the frogs, like maybe the frogs might fix our stress, but after a few seconds, it was clear they were just frogs, and we moved on.
The two of us eventually managed to catch up with Iris and Yasha as they looped out of the Amazon and began to explore the other branches of exhibits veering off from the big tank in the center of the circular room.
After seeing everything there was to see on the main level of the aquarium, we ventured down to the lower level, where a few dolphins and beluga whales swam around in a gigantic viewing pool.
Yasha’s eyes hadn’t shrunk below the size of saucers the entire time we were in the museum, and somehow they managed to grow even wider once she saw the dolphins performing tricks in the massive pool.
It looked like we’d come downstairs right in the middle of one of the scheduled shows, and I nodded my head toward the stairs so we could sneak up and grab a seat in the bleachers to watch as the rest of the performance played out.
I’d seen the show a few times now, but that didn’t stop me from being on the edge of my seat along with the three women as we watched the trainers get the sea creatures to perform mesmerizing feats.
By the time the penguins were led out to do their portion of the show, I thought Yasha was going to faint from excitement, and even Iris seemed to be enchanted, but no one was more invested in what was happening than Elaene.
The Atlantean woman was perched on the very edge of the bleachers, and for the first time since I’d met her, the literal edge-of-her-seat posture wasn’t rigid and anxious, but elated and bubbling with life.
It made my heart leap in my chest, and I felt a rush of affection for the dark-haired woman as her beautiful, ocean-like eyes took in everything there was to see.
The show was nearly over, and as much as I didn’t want to have to pull any of the three of them away from the spectacular show, I knew we’d get clogged up in a massive traffic jam with everyone else trying to leave if we waited much longer.
“Let’s go find that touch tank,” I whispered.
That was all it took to get all three of the women stumbling after me as we hurried down the bleacher steps and made our way toward one of the elevators.
We weren’t too far from the interactive area, and when we turned into the small bay featuring docile sharks and manta rays, I thought Yasha was actually going to faint.
Her eyes were bulging as she went straight up to the edge of the tank and immediately thrust her hand down inside the water to try and touch any of the creatures swimming in the shallow water.
I crouched down next to her and pushed my hand in as well, but I didn’t even care if I touched any of the sea creatures, all I cared about was the delighted look on her face as a shark brushed by the tips of her fingers.
Elaene was just as thrilled, and she spent a long time simply staring down into the water with an elated look on her face before she even leaned down to try and skim her fingers along one of the manta rays’ backs.
Iris was the only one who was a little hesitant to shove her hand straight into a tank of water that held sharks, but even she reached in and let her fingers ghost over the smooth, rubbery back of one of the manta rays.
The entire trip felt like it passed by in a blur, and that probably had something to do with the fact that I spent most of it staring at the three women in my life to gauge how they felt about each new thing that happened. I wanted to make sure each of them had a great time and on top of that, their happiness was more than enough to make the entire excursion worth it for me.
In the end, we spent another hour or so at the aquarium, with much of that time spent staring at the penguins in their habitat, as well as walking through the tunnel of tanks that formed an arched hallway.
It had taken all three of us to be able to convince Elaene to leave, but finally, the Atlantean woman had agreed we couldn’t just spend all day there, no matter how peaceful it was.
“Are you certain I may have this?” Yasha asked as we perused the gift shop as our final destination on the aquarium trip. She held up a stuffed shark with big, plastic eyes and a wide-open mouth.
“Of course,” I said. “You really loved this place, way more than I figured actually, so if you want the stuffed shark, we can definitely get the stuffed shark.”
Yasha smiled so brightly at me, it was like staring directly into the sun.
“Thank you, Wes,” she said before leaning in to give me a soft peck on the lips. “This means very much to me.”
“Of course,” I assured her. “I’m happy to get it for you.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time and saw that we’d probably spent a little too much time in the aquarium, and now we were going to be cutting it a little close for the apartment tour.
“Shit,” I said. “We need to hurry so we can make the apartment showing on time.”
“Then we shall hurry,” Elaene said.
We quickly paid for Yasha’s shark, as well as a small snow globe that Elaene seemed enamored with, before rushing back out to the car in the nearby parking garage.
The good thing was that the apartment building wasn’t too far from here, given the aquarium’s proximity to the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago, but still. I was the sort of guy who liked to show up to places fifteen minutes early, as opposed to exactly on time.
My next concern once we sped through traffic toward the luxury apartment building was the issue of parking. Street parking was nearly impossible to find, and while I knew the building had an attached parking garage, I hadn’t been able to find any information on whether or not it was only for residents.
To my surprise, though, when we pulled up to the building, there was an honest-to-god valet waiting outside.
Holy shit. We were about to tour a penthouse apartment in one of the most expensive districts to live in the country, and the place had an actual fucking valet. This was crazy.
Despite the fact it was quite literally this guy’s job, I was still hesitant to get out of the car and just hand him the keys to my new Benz. However, I wasn’t about to waste the time navigating the parking garage to hopefully find a free space myself, not with our appointment time looming over my head like a bunch of storm clouds.
I’d really liked this apartment from the pictures online, and even though it was only the first place we were set up to view, I didn’t like the idea of it getting snatched from my grasp before I even had time to see it. And so, valet services.
“I never thought I’d have someone else park a car for me,” Iris murmured as the four of us slipped out of the vehicle, and I passed the young man in the dark blue blazer the keys.
“Me, neither,” I agreed as I flashed the kid a smile.
He looked like he couldn’t be that much older than nineteen. I slipped a twenty into his hand as well, as a tip, and as soon as I did that, he straightened up, like now he needed to act far more professional than he actually was.
It was sort of endearing, even though I didn’t know this kid from Adam.
“Take good care of her,” I said and nodded to the SUV.
“Y-yes, sir,” he stammered, and then, to my immense surprise and amusement, he gave me an actual fucking salute.
I could get used to that.
I fought the urge to laugh and gestured for the three women to follow me inside the large, opulent-looking glass doors of the Marquee, which was sort of a pretentious name for an apartment building, but on the other hand, I’d seen worse.
The lobby for the building was just as expensive-looking as the use of an actual fucking valet implied. There were a lot of gigantic, clearly live plants in terracotta pots, a heavy hand when it came to marble flooring, and bright, natural-feeling lighting that made the plush, obviously expensive furniture in a small sitting area to the side of the lobby seem strangely welcoming, despite the undoubtedly absurd price tag.
