Snippet: Marime

["buffythebushkangaroo" <buffythebushkangaroo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another HD-clearance snippet. (Last one)

Now my HD is empty of everything except bits of Enigma (which no-one 
read anyway)

Anne-Lise.

--

I remember the first time I wore a skirt.
"Oh, Yanna," my mother decried. I waved my hand at her. I never 
expected to make her understand.
"It's dirty to expose your knees," she'd say. "Dirty. Do you wish to 
become marime? An outcast?"
"It's not dirty," I'd answered. "Everybody does it."
"The gaje, maybe. Those who are not Romani. We do not."
"I need to fit in. I cannot be seen as weird," I said.
"So you want to be dirty instead?" She shook her head and her 
eyebrows pinched together in that ugly way she has.
I had no desire to be dirty, but I didn't want to be thought of as 
weird either. I guess a lot of things were a struggle for me in those 
days; That was when I'd decided to become Jenny. Jenny was gaje and 
thus had no such compunctions. Who would care if Miss Jenny Calendar 
was considered marime? She was just another gaje barbarian like all 
the rest.
Only one other knew my secret; Sofia. Only she knew of my mission, 
of what I had to give up to perform my birthright duty.
"You must be with this man," she told me. "You must be with this 
Rupert Giles as only a woman can be."
I gasped. "I can't! I would be marime forever! Nothing would clean 
the tarnish from my soul. Besides, I have no knowledge of how to do 
such a thing."
Sofia laughed. "Men are such simple creatures, Yanna. First, take 
him out to somewhere you much enjoy."
I nodded. This I could do.
"Then let him take your hand," she continued.
I frowned. "Take my hand?" I asked, not understanding.
"Yes, he will want to take your hand like this." Sofia placed her 
hand over mine and I felt a warm glow stir within me. "And for awhile 
this will be all he will do; hold your hand."
I sighed, relief evident in my mind. "This does not seem such a 
burden to bear," I admitted. I stared into Sofia's cool opaline eyes 
as she smiled at me. A wave of incoherent yearning flooded through my 
flesh.
"Then he will start to move his hand, like so." Sofia's palm lightly 
trailed on my arm and a delectable shiver coursed throughout me. "And 
then he will kiss you."
Sofia put her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me closer. And 
with my heart thundering in my chest, I noticed her watching me as if 
to see whether I would pull away.
I didn't and we kissed. Close-mouthed, and not for too long.
As Sofia pulled away from me a nervous giggle escaped my lips. My 
face must have been a perfect crimson. Sofia giggled too. "And this 
is when you tell him to stop."
"Oh, thank god!" I breathed.
"And he will stop," Sofia revealed. "At least for a little while." 
She pondered this. "If he is any sort of gentleman," she amended.
I nodded whole-heartedly. "Of that I am sure," I said. "This Rupert 
Giles is, if anything, a complete gentleman." How could I tell even 
Sofia of what this man's records had revealed to me? Of the violence, 
the darkness. My soul would weep...
Sofia shook her head as if I were but a simpleton. "Soon he will go 
back to this..." Sofia took my hand once more. "And this." Her 
fingers trailed my arm, half-tickling. And then Sofia kissed me 
again, lightly, her tongue licking lightly against my ear. Hot chills 
raced up and down my spine. There she paused, as if to taste my 
aroma. She put a hand on the back of my neck, and with my face turned 
towards hers, she kissed me again. Fully, this time; open-mouthed and 
with her tongue thrusting inside mine. A warm pulse beat between my 
thighs, in my most secretive place. I squeezed against her arm and my 
right leg lifted up automatically.

*

"Yes, Willow, like this." Jenny murmured.
Willow smiled her radiant smile. "Thank you, Miss Calendar. I 
wouldn't have worked it out if you hadn't shown me how." She grabbed 
her book-bag and left the otherwise-empty computer class.
"Ah Jenny," Sofia whispered from the shadows as she stepped from the 
darkness into the neon light. "Always a love for red-heads." Sofia 
giggled as Jenny blushed.