Chapter 10: A Very Goode Party

I awoke Sunday morning to the smell of eggs, sausage, and hash browns. Opening my eyes, I looked around the bed and did not find Iris. She wasn't there, so either she was in the kitchen making those smells, or Kam had come over. I looked at the time; it was only 9 AM.

A few minutes later, I came out into the kitchen with new clothes ready for after my shower, and sure enough, Iris was in the kitchen standing on a footstool and cooking breakfast. The footstool was not strictly necessary, in my opinion, as it made her taller than she needed to cook. I glanced at the table, and saw there was also orange juice, toast, and jam on the table, as well as two place settings.

"Queen Iris doing servant work? How irregular," I commented with amusement.

She glanced up at me with a haughty expression. "The best Queens are servants to their subjects. And I'll have you know I am perfectly regular, thank you very much."

I snickered at her joke, and continued to the bathroom. "I'm gonna take my shower. You need in there before I go?"

"Why thaank you, my dear," she said in a faux aristocratic tone, "but Queen Iris has already sat upon the throne recently. You may make yourself presentable at your leisure."

Snickering again, I closed the bathroom door and went about 'making myself presentable, ' as she had said.

When I came out, Iris had finished cooking, and the food was on serving trays on the table. She had even rinsed out the pan and put it in the dishwasher. When I left the loo, the electric kettle was finishing up boiling water for tea. Since Iris was at the table already, I brought it over and made myself some tea.

"So," I said, sitting down opposite her, "to what do I owe the honor of thy regal servitude this morning, my Queen?"

Iris scooped some scrambled eggs onto her plate, and said, "I was up, I was hungry, and I thought it might be nice to wake you up with cooking smells."

"Glad to find out you know how to cook. Waking up to the smell of smoke and the blare of fire alarms would not have been pleasant."

"Yeah, Mama and Papa taught me how."

"Not Taanlen?"

"Taanlen couldn't cook to save her life."

I chuckled. "Well let's hope she never gets abducted by murderous foodies, then."

We both laughed at that, then got to the business of eating.

"Very delicious," I eventually said. "Excellent cooking. I look forward to you doing it again."

"Thanks."

After we ate breakfast and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I took note of the fact that Iris was still in her nightie, and asked, "Have you had your shower yet, my Queen?"

"No. I wanted to wait until after I was done cooking, so I wouldn't risk getting my clothes dirty. I'll do that now, though."

While she went to her overnight bag to get her day's outfit out and then go take her shower, I checked my messages, one of which included details from Matria about the rest of the shopping today. I sent back an acknowledgment. When that was done, I turned on the three-vee, not wanting to get too engrossed in a book.

I was idly flipping through channels when Iris came out, her hair tied up in a towel. She wasn't wearing the dress she'd taken in, but rather a bathrobe, which surprised me. From a couple peeks I got as she walked, I could tell that if she had anything at all on under the robe, it was nothing more than panties. Turning red, I tried to calm the stirrings down below that this knowledge had inspired. If Iris noticed my discomfort, she gave no indication, just sat down on the sofa next to me.

"Hey, check channel 489, will ya? I think The Lyrmops is on."

Curious, as I'd never heard of that show before, I switched to the indicated channel. My eyes were immediately assaulted by a riot of primary colors as a variety of puppets and a diverse cast of humans sang songs, told stories, and other things of the sort you would expect from a show designed for small children. I was even more curious then, wondering what appeal this show could have for a 12 year old genius girl. I mean yeah, in some ways Iris was young at heart, but still ... it didn't seem like something Iris would like.

However, as the show progressed, I found myself drawn into the story, and caring about the characters. The show was in many ways a typical kid's show, but in other ways it was deeper. It had layers, things that younger kids would ignore, that older kids and even adults would notice. And not your standard hidden dirty jokes, either. There were some pretty simple yet accurate explanations of various concepts from science, at least in this episode. I was impressed.

The titular Lyrmops, I eventually discovered, were sentient blimp-like puppets from a gas giant, who traveled through the universe with human children and adults as guests in a brightly-colored spaceship that was no bigger than a house on the outside, but was much, much bigger on the inside. I was reminded strongly of the twentieth-century TV show "Doctor Who," but instead of traveling around space fighting monsters, the Lyrmops traveled around the universe teaching their guests (and the audience) about things like black holes, supernovas, faster-than-light drive, or the cultures of other human colony worlds. Even - as I found from a second episode we watched - going through "time wormholes" to learn history lessons.

When the episodes were over, Iris lost interest in the channel and got up to go get dressed in my bedroom, presumably because it was closer. I tried to get interested in whatever show was on next, but after the incredible experience of The Lyrmops, I found I couldn't concentrate on the other show at all, so I went back to channel-surfing. But I made a note in my Omnus about that show; Iris wasn't the only one young at heart, and the librarian in me couldn't help but think that The Lyrmops would make a great show to have a showing of at the library, followed up by going with the kids to look up books relevant to the episode. It would be a great way to get kids interested in reading, especially since the show had a section about books.

I checked the time; it was almost 11 AM. Each Lyrmops episode had been half an hour long. Matria intended to pick us up at noon, do some shopping, then have lunch at 1:30 or 2, before doing some more shopping. While trying to decide whether or not to tell Iris this, I noted that she'd been in my room for a very long time. I kept waiting a few more minutes. Just as I was debating whether or not to check on her, she came out of my bedroom, fully dressed in the pink halter dress I'd gotten for her yesterday. Her hair was almost completely dry, and pulled back in a ponytail with a pink fluffy scrunchie in it, that matched the color of the dress perfectly.

"Looking hot," I commented, wolf-whistling.

"Thank you, thank you."

"Come on, model it for me, spin around."

Iris obliged, letting me see the dress from every angle. It went down to her knees, and showed off her bare back quite nicely, as the back of the dress dipped down to just above her butt, so I could see the small of her back. Iris also wore simple black Mary Janes and white socks that barely went past her ankles. Looking at her hands, I saw why she'd taken so long; her fingernails were painted the same pink as the dress. She'd done a great job on them, too.

"Oh my," I said, taking hold of her hand and gently pulling her over to me so that I was able to dip her down in my arms - which made her giggle, "you're gorgeous today. Such a magnificent outfit, it flatters you so well. And your nails are perfect."

"Thanks, Rianna," she said, still being cradled in my arms from the dip. Our eyes connected, and we began to have a moment. It was one of those moments that seems to last a lot longer than it really does, and at the end of it, I leaned forward, pulled her up a little, and kissed her right on the lips. She tasted of strawberry lip balm, and had put on strawberry perfume as well.

When we finally pulled out of the kiss, I smiled at her. "You are as delicious as you are lovely, my Queen."

Her smile went all adorably crooked, and her cheeks turned red. "W-well," she said, falteringly, "I ... well I guess I'm dessert."

"Yes, you are. A dessert I very much want to eat," I said, raising my eyebrows up and down suggestively. Which ... broke the moment, causing Iris to laugh so hard that she had to stop a couple minutes later to catch her breath.

"Too much, eh?"

"Just ... just a little," she agreed, still chuckling.

We spent the rest of the time til noon going to channel 489i, the on-demand version of the channel The Lyrmops had been on, because it let us scroll through the shows on offer and watch reruns on demand. We were, of course, watching a rerun of The Lyrmops. As we did, Iris sat on my lap, and I lay my right hand on her thigh, stroking it idly with my thumb.

When that episode was over, she directed me to another show, not as good as The Lyrmops, but diverting and short enough to fill the 20 minute gap until Matria arrived. During that show, I rubbed Iris's back, reveling in the sensation of her exposed back beneath my fingers. With my hands busy on her back, Iris had trouble concentrating on the show, and gave up after a few minutes, just relaxing into the massage. I even got bold enough to nibble on her neck and shoulder a little, to which she gave little sighs and moans of pleasure, her head craning back, and her eyes closed.

It wasn't until the doorbell rang that I realized that maybe 20 minutes before a shopping trip had been a bad time to get Iris and myself wound up. Iris sat bolt upright, shouted "Mama! Oh shit!" and ran off into the bathroom.

"Uh, Cleo, is that Matria?"

"Yes."

"Please let her in, and inform her we're, uh ... not quite ready yet."

"Sure thing."

I heard the door open and Cleo talking to Matria as I went into my bedroom to, er ... take care of the situation that had developed in my panties. I did it as quickly as I could, then wiped my hands off with a sanitary napkin before leaving my bedroom again, where I found Matria sitting patiently on the sofa, a questioning look in her eye. One look at my face, though, and her expression turned to one of amused knowing.

"I noticed the bathroom door is closed," she said. "Iris is in there, I take it?"

My embarrassment rendering me mute, I merely nodded. Her knowing look intensified.

A couple minutes later, an excessively calm and collected Iris came stately out of the loo, looking very much like a queen.

"Mother, what a pleasant surprise," she said. Matria and I both snorted a little in a laughing sort of way, but said nothing at first.

"Well," Iris continued in a completely different tone - that of a nonchalant child, "we going or not?" Not waiting for a response, she opened the door and went out to the car.

Grabbing Iris's eBoard along with both our purses, figuring she'd forgotten about them, I followed Matria out of the house to the car. Once inside and sitting next to my little girlfriend, I focused on helping Iris forget about her embarrassment. By the time we got to the mall, she had forgotten all about it.

This shopping trip wasn't even as interesting as the one the day before, so I won't waste your time with most of it. The only thing of any note was that for the first couple hours, starting with our conversation in the car, we talked off and on about my family, and as a result she got more and more excited to meet them, an excitement that evolved to add impatience by the time we stopped for lunch. She talked of nothing else throughout the meal, even talking with her mouth full, to Matria's displeasure.

She kept going back to it afterwords, too. There was no shutting her up, either. So I finally asked her if she would like to meet them tonight instead of next Saturday. I felt reasonably safe asking this, as I was sure Mom wouldn't mind. Part of her would prefer some warning, to make a nice meal, but for the most part she would be glad to see me again, and glad to meet Iris.

Iris loved this idea, so I called Mom up on my Omnus; a few minutes later, we had arranged to have dinner with my family at 6pm. I had hoped that would silence Iris on the subject for a while, but it just made her talk about it more. I called Kam up to update her on the situation, and Matria updated her own family.

So it was that Matria dropped Iris and I off at my parents' house at 4:30.

"Wow, your parents live way on the other side of the city from us."

"Yes. I would have preferred a job closer to home, because I love my family, but the job I got was at the library where I work now. It was the only opening at the time."

"Well I'm glad it worked out that way, cuz otherwise we wouldn't have met."

"Me too, my Queen, me too."

As we walked toward the door, it flew open, and I saw a teenage-appearing face in the door - one of the twins. Zie ran out to tackle me in a hug. It happened so fast that I didn't know which twin it was, until we were on the ground, Iris laughing as soon as she saw I was okay.

"Jabari, excitable as always I see."

"DOGPILE ON THE REA!" Imari shouted and jumped on top of us.

As soon as I caught my breath, I said with a mixture of irritation and amusement, "Imari, Jabari; you two are 24 years old. You're too old to be jumping on me."

"Sorry," they said in unison.

"It's just that you're--"

"--so fun--"

"--to jump on!"

They got off, I stood up, and dusted myself off. Luckily, I was wearing stain-resistent clothing, so I didn't have any grass or dirt stains. When I had collected myself, I said, "Iris Zahane, this is Imari and Jabari Goode, AKA the twins. They're nonbinary gender, and 'zie' and 'zir' are their preferred pronouns."

"It's also acceptable--"

"--to use the pronouns--"

"--for whatever gender we present--"

"--like him/her for Imari right now--"

"--or she/her for Jabari, at present--"

"--but sometimes we're neither."

They looked at each other, then said, "So zie/zir--

"--if you're ever unsure."

A bit dazed by the sheer... twin-ness of Imari and Jabari, Iris just nodded, her mouth slightly open. That made me chuckle.

"Iris, you might as well just forget what they said and just use zie and zir, since the twins switch presentation about once an hour."

"Oh we're down to--

"--once every two hours--"

"--more or less."

Iris giggled at this. I just rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, you two--"

"--should come in--"

"--and meet Mom and Dad."

The twins ran inside. As they did, I made note of their clothes. Imari's clothing was a red shirt and blue pants, and Jabari wore a turquoise top and a pink skirt, with blue pants under the skirt. Both tops were cut like blouses. There was something off about Imari's top that I couldn't figure out; it looked thicker, for one. And true to their presentations, Imari had a normal Afro, and Jabari had zir own hair in Afro puffs.

We entered the living room, and Mom and Dad met us there. Dad was just as solid as usual, tall, broad-shouldered, with a lovely deep voice. And Mom looked like an older, slightly less thin version of Kamaria, something I'd never really noticed before. I wasn't sure what I thought of that fact. The significant differences, other than age, were that Mom was dressed in a loose-fitting one piece dress, her hair tied into an Afro version of a loose bun at the back of her head. Dad's hair, on the other hand, was trimmed fairly close to the scalp, the temples going grey.

Iris got really quiet and withdrawn as the reality of my parents faced her, even though their faces were warm and friendly. I hugged my parents a very long time, to make up for my long absence. When we finally pulled apart, I tried - brokenly - to explain why I'd been gone for so long. They stopped me mid-sentence.

"Yes, honey," Mom said. "Kam explained. Hopefully she'll be able to make up for your absent-minded nature."

"I hope so, too. I love you all."

That little drama over, Mom noticed Iris. "Ah, this must be Rianna's new girlfriend that Kam told us about. I take it you're Iris?"

Iris merely nodded, rapidly withdrawing into herself, so I spoke instead. "Sauda Goode, meet Iris Zahane. Iris Zahane, meet my mother, Sauda Goode."

"N-nice ... nice to m-meet you," Iris said, her voice starting quiet and getting down to a whisper by the last word.

"Oh, no need to be so nervous, my dear, we don't bite."

Iris moved to stand against my side, sort-of hiding from my parents. It made me remember that Iris had been terribly shy before knowing me. It looked like meeting my parents was bringing that out again.