[Human for Hire] - Part 197

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*Author note:* Coffee and an award!? This early? Goodness...I may be doing something right.

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*Vilantia Prime, Elsife Village*

"What's all this, then?" The elder Gryzzk's face settled into something of a frown as he observed the entirety of the house huddled around Brinfe's tablet and laughing, with Nhoot pointing at something. Brinfe rapidly turned with a broad smile as she saw her husband with a cup of tea in his hand.

"Your son's ship thought we needed to see what he's been up to. Is the tea acceptable?"

"Dearest wife, none of those words bring me any level of comfort. This tea seems a strange thing, and I dislike it immensely. There is no tradition for it."

Nhoot hopped up and down gleefully. "But Pa-pop, Papa looks funny!"

There was a deep inhalation. "Well, I suppose I should witness this, if only to make an attempt at defending his actions later today."

The entire scene was replayed for the benefit of everyone, with Gryzzk frowning deeply at the end result of his son being glittered in rather complete manner. "What is this preposterousness."

Kiole was giggling helplessly. "...Oh, he will never live this down." The giggling continued even as Brinfe settled herself to explain.

"Husband, there was a situation, and our son spared his fellows a measure of indignity by taking it all for himself."

The elder Gryzzk took a deep breath and shook his head. "There is no propriety in this. Look. Look at him. Covered head to toe in...whatever that foulness is. There is nothing that explains it."

Brinfe wrinkled her muzzle slightly. "I remind you husband, that there is nobility in sacrifice - and to sacrifice one's dignity that others may retain their own is a kindness from the gods themselves."

There was an exhalation. "The question I put to you then is why in the name of all the light gods does it have to be my son sacrificing his body and dignity?"

Brinfe lifted a hand to caress her husband's cheek. "Because that is what you taught him. He carries your lessons of what it means to be a noble, and that the first duty of a noble is to ensure the wholeness of those who serve."

There was a light movement into the caress, even as Gryzzk rumbled unhappily. "I should very much prefer that others take up this lesson once in a while."

"They will. But such teaching takes time."

"As you say, love. Now, if you will excuse me, I will see to the luggage of our family. They have a trip ahead of them, and it would not do for them to be ill-equipped for their journey." Gryzzk huffed softly, turning and going to the closet where suitcases had been packed and secured.

The room was quiet for a moment, before Kiole broke the silence. "Mother...I wish Father would see the good your child does."

Brinfe's eyes twinkled as she placed a finger over her lips, motioning them to follow silently. They all crept to within easy hearing distance of the closet to catch what was happening fairly easily.

The elder Gryzzk had placed a towel in his mouth to keep from making too much noise, but his laughter could easily be heard as he held his sides and rocked back and forth wheezing in a highly unrestrained manner. This kept up for several minutes before he was able to contain himself and with a few deep exhalations, the elder Gryzzk was able compose himself, wiping his eyes and setting the towel back in its proper place before being confronted by the women of the house.

"The luggage is secured, ladies." Despite the seriousness of the words, the scent of amusement clung to the elder Gryzzk like a warm cloak.

Brinfe smirked. "I would expect nothing less, husband." She leaned into him slightly. "I am reminded of our son's youth."

"When precisely did he do something like this?" There was a harrumph. "My son did nothing of the sort."

"You recall - one night after a rain, he and the Lordling A'kifab had one of their races through the yacone rows, and the lordling slipped and fell. Our son intentionally tripped himself as well so that A'Kifab would win the race, and then they spent the next two hours trying to clean up until you finally brought them both in for a proper scrub."

"Yes, well...boys will act as boys do, and it is our responsibility to show them the duty that maturity brings."

"Yes, and I recall someone regaling the Thirty-Second A'Kifab with the story until you were both quite beside yourselves with laughter because *someone* remembered to commemorate the event with stills."

Kiole perked up. "Mother, Father...it would be a great gift if such things were to find their way to our luggage."

Gryzzk hmphed softly. "Perhaps such things could be found."

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*Terra Prime, Cleveland Ohio, North American Confederation*

Gryzzk awoke the next morning relatively early, glancing around for a moment. After completing his breakfast and ship walkabout, he settled in his chair.

"XO, anything from overnight I need to be worried about?"

"Well, remember young Kevin?"

"I may never forget, as much as I would try."

"So the good news is he's got a date with a polar bear. Apparently doing stupid things gets you noticed. Bad news is he's also got a date with a Juvenile court judge. Seyneen and Kevin's attorney put in separate requests for a statement on Kevin's behalf."

Gryzzk grimaced. "I'm not sure I would be a great help. He was in fact waving a detonator around and threatening to set off a glitter-bomb, which would have caused a rather significant ruckus."

"It did set off a ruckus. Which reminds me, Tanuvasa's being authorized access to your quarters."

"Why?"

"He's been issued a pair of tweezers and will be spending today looking for glitter. Sergeant Major O'Brien thinks he should learn that one handles detonators with care." Rosie smirked. "Though a chunk of that is because she's still washing glitter out of everywhere that's got hair. Have you ever seen her with her hair fully down? That shit is a goddamn miracle."

"In any event." Gryzzk took a breath and thought about it. "I think that the young man needs to learn that while acts in service of...proving oneself are fine, those acts should not have a minimum safe distance attached to them. Given that this entire episode stemmed from a linguistic prank, would it be fair to recommend he learn the language in question? In addition to whatever punishment the judge feels necessary to teach a lesson to the young man." Gryzzk stood, straightening his tunic and ignoring the sparkly flecks that drifted down as he began speaking quietly.

"Statement as follows. Youth is a time of learning, a time where someone learns not just about themselves, but society. The expectations placed upon them. It is in this time that the obedience of childhood begins to truly clash with the desires of adulthood. We must remind them that they are not yet adults, but we must encourage them to find their maturity. Yesterday Kevin was quite immature as a result of the immaturity of others. This raises many questions as to whether or not this is normal behavior. Certainly this seems to be an outsized response. I can only temper this by stating that my observation of Kevin is that he is a bright individual, and frightfully capable when motivated. According to the initial analysis done by my infantry team, the detonator used was quite clever. I believe this is an energy that should be channeled appropriately via whatever punishment is meted out for his wrongdoing. Statement concludes."

"And sent. Next item, bridge squad wants to watch the race today from up here."

"I don't have any particulars on the race itself." Gryzzk resettled and tried to focus on his tea.

"Oh, that's easy. Hoban's got a stunt plane on loan from one of the local flying clubs, and one of the folks from M5 has a motorcycle that they use for high-speed stunt action. Hoban's basically gotta fly the plane down the river starting at one of the old highways, stay under a fifty foot ceiling, and beat the motorcycle that's gonna be going flat-out bat-out-of-hell fast on one of the highways along that crosses the river four times with the race ending at the old coast guard station. There's a couple little navigation hazards they both gotta roll through, but that's the short version. Good news is they're both going in cold."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"That's a Texas-sized ten-four usually. But they get spotters, and if he wins Yomios promised to do that thing he likes with her -"

"I neither require nor desire elaboration, XO."

"Fer what?" Rosie was slightly put out as she was cut off from one of her favorite past-times.