Sun Shower [Clover]

[Jesse Fforde]

S U N S H O W E R
_______________________

<Jesse Fforde> No time had been wasted setting up the Atrium. Not the one at Circle, but another one - the address of which Jesse had given Clover on a piece of expensive card. All the flourishes were there, too, the writing metallic green, calligraphic.

The green dome had been hired for the night; where some vampires had charisma to achieve these things, Jesse succeeded in scaring the wits out of those with the power. A janitor was there to let him in to set the space up - to help with the hoses, the heat, and the sun-bright lamps set up in a strategic position.

The snow didn’t prove to be an obstacle, not here. Not in this space that was kept humid and heated through winter, to keep the numerous plants alive. In the middle of the dome, the trees were so thick on every side that one would think they were outside in the wilderness, rather than inside. It was giving Jesse ideas. Maybe he’d build one of these behind Third Circle.

Inside the dome - which was situated on the outer edge of the city, closer to the wilderness - the sounds of the city disappeared completely. Jesse stood in the middle of the space with his eyes closed and his head tilted back. He could hear the way the water hit the leaves, a pantomime of peace. They were few and far between, the condensation slipping from the curved dome of the roof overhead. Jesse knew that it was there. But you couldn’t see it, through the thickness of the leaves.

The space was soon set up to his specifications, the effects tested twice to make sure that they would work. The janitor was on standby, waiting on the sidelines - told to leave, as soon as his job was done. There may have been a thread involved. Jesse sauntered outside, closing the door behind him. The cold air soon hit him, a severe contrast to the atmosphere inside the dome. He wanted out to the footpath, and down the road. The address he’d given Clover was for a nondescript building; a random number. From his pocket he pulled the scarf he planned to use as a blindfold. While he waited, he paced slowly back and forth, twisting the scarf around his palm.

This wouldn’t be the real deal. But he hoped it would be close enough.


<Clover> Clover turned the card over in her hands, the green paper just as green as her namesake. The address on the card was unfamiliar, but Clo had never claimed to have mastered the city, from its many buildings to its many streets. As she sat on the edge of her bed, she read over the address once more. Something about the address had her on edge. The surprise made her feel naked. Jesse had been the one to plan a surprise, and all Clover wanted to do was plan her own surprise. Clover wanted to be the one in control of the situation. And yet, she looked forward to reaching the address; she looked forward to finding the address at the end of the rainbow.


Not knowing what Jesse’s little surprise entailed, Clo chose something nicer to wear. She wore a black dress that fell farther down her thighs and a pair of black ballet flats. Black. The color brought out the color in her tattoos, but it also brought out her pale complexion. The yellow, red, green, and blue of her tattoos made her into one giant story, a tale of her years on the earth. And she enjoyed the tale; she enjoyed everything about the short story, the novella, the novel. Dressed, she admired her reflection in the mirror. She looked at a reflection that didn’t exist. She let her eyes roam over the imaginary outlines. How long had it been since she’d actually seen her reflection?

Glancing down, Clo admired the green card. The date, time, and place stood out against the green background. The letters invited her to discover the unknown, to walk into foreign territory and allow Jesse to surprise her, for a change. Clo double-checked that she had her tome and her gun, both of them secured in a holster on her thigh. She’d made sure to get a dress long enough to conceal her weapons, long enough to allow her both modesty and freedom of movement.

When she left the family home, she pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself, pretending to huddle deeper into the fabric. The leather jacket would have offered some warmth, but she neither needed nor welcomed the heat. Clover thrived in the cold.

“Is this my surprise?” Clover saw him and spoke to him, the distance between them shrinking with every step. The building looked like any other building, so she doubted him. She thought he’d failed her, and she forced those thoughts aside. Faith, she told herself. Have some faith. “I’m excited,” she admitted quietly, her fists buried in the pockets of her jacket. Again, she looked over the building, trying to find something special about the ordinary place; however, she saw nothing beyond the mundane exterior.


<Jesse Fforde> As soon as Clover appeared in the distance, Jesse stopped pacing. He stood still and quiet, calm, as he watched her close the distance; a he watched her glance at the building. He could guess what she was thinking, and that was entirely the point. He hadn’t wanted her to get any ideas before they went in. He didn’t want her to know a single thing about what they were doing until they were in the midst of it.

“Yes. I’m taking you for a romantic getaway through some offices. We might find some really nifty staples in there. Could make for some kinky foreplay,” he said with a wink. The scenario was delivered in a flat tone. He could be serious, except that it was completely ridiculous. If she took him seriously, he’d no doubt tease her about her gullibility.

Though, why would he tell her what they were doing, before brandishing the scarf-cum-blindfold? He pressed a kiss to the corner of Clover’s lips before he slid around behind her, wrapping the silken material over her eyes and tying it tight behind her head, careful not to get her hair caught in the knot. He made sure that she couldn’t see a thing, shifting the material so that it covered her eyes completely.

“No peeking,” he said, sliding an arm around her waist as he led her forward the dome; he all but carried her up the steps rather than trying to get her to navigate them blind. He was grinning ear to ear, obviously excited. He was impatient. Eager to see Clover’s reaction; there was only a little fear that it would be a failure.

As soon as they entered the dome, the air immediately changed. It went from stiflingly cold to warm, heavy with moisture and humidity. There was dirt beneath their feet, and the occasional sound, still, of the water droplets dancing among the leaves. The janitor had flicked the switches as soon as they’d walked through the doors; the large lamps to the left of the building began to heat up; the light that filtered through the leaves was reminiscent of sunlight. They were bright enough, and yet distant enough to give the illusion of a setting sun.

Only once they were in the middle of the dome, where the sounds of the city had dropped away and not an inch of glass could be seen, did Jesse reach up to remove the blindfold from Clover’s eyes.


<Clover> Though he had a flat tone, she believed him, momentarily. Clover didn’t put it above him when it came to surprises. Honestly, he could have taken her on a tour of an office building, and she would have searched for something interesting in the cubicles, something more than tangled telephone wires and seemingly endless post-it notes. “If you’re into that,” she joked in return, still believing him. The building. The building fit with his words, and she wondered if he’d put forth such limited effort.

“It looks fantastic.” Clo forced the words out, her eyes narrowed and her smile tight. “Please tell me you’re joking,” she continued, the words much quieter than her previous exclamations. How many times had she searched the windows and admired the doors? Jesse wasn’t telling the truth. She finally came to the conclusion. The blindfold had helped her along, like the final piece of a jumbled puzzle, and she smiled, both at herself and at the opportunity for yet another surprise.

The building wasn’t necessarily the surprise. Or maybe he’d done something with the interior. Or maybe he’d done something beyond the front exterior. Clover had no idea. The blindfold ruined her sense of sight, and she finally understood what it felt like to be led along. She reached out to touch his face, to trace her fingertips over the familiar dip of his cheeks and the line of his jaw. When he led her along, she felt the tugging at the corners of her lips, a contained smile that had failed to be contained. Giddy, that was the word. She felt so giddy.

What existed at the end of the staircase? What waited for her beyond the blindfold? When the air changed, she felt the difference, but she also smelled the difference. The air went from cold, filled with the scent of frozen landscapes, to warm.

[Clover]

<Clover> The place felt almost tropical, with the increase in humidity and the different scent of plants. She was reminded of the green room at the family home. And the dirt. Clover felt the way the earth shifted beneath her feet. She’d expected concrete, the type of flooring that might have existed in an office building. Her flats sunk into the dirt, and she knew she’d have to remove them if she expected to go anywhere.

When he removed her blindfold, she squinted at the bright light. Her body reacted, her mind expecting the familiar burn, and she flinched. Her arms rose up to shield her face, to protect her eyes, but it wasn’t morning. They were inside. Her skin wasn’t burning. It’s okay, she convinced herself.

They were safe. But she felt as if she were outside. She felt as if the light that seemed to trickle through the leaves rivaled the sunlight. Bright. Warm. Comforting. The place took her back to a time when she had no thirst, when she bore a strong pulse and a larger heart. The smile that overtook her features was without restraint, and she threw her arms around him. There were no words. Not yet.


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse watched for Clover’s reaction. Although he mainly paraded around with unflinching confidence (thankfully, his ego had regrown to its full, nearly unwieldy size), for a few seconds he felt doubt. She was going to hate it. She was going to think it was stupid. She was going to think it paled in comparison to the real thing, and it was only going to make her feel worse about not being able to get what she wanted. He had stolen the sunshine from her, and there was no way that he could give it back.

And so, when she threw her arms around him, as he caught a glimpse of a smile that was far too wide to be fake, he relaxed. He was far more relieved than he expected to be; he realised, in that moment, that he was far more concerned than he had given himself credit for. His own tattooed limbs wrapped around his partner and he spun her; the dirt flicked out from under their feet, and his piercing gaze penetrated the foliage to where he knew the janitor would be waiting - up there, on the edges. Hidden, behind all the green. Waiting at the control panel.

Just like that, the slow trickle of the water droplets multiplied. Just like an ordinary deluge of rain, it started out slow, the cacophonous whisper turning to static as the rain fell around them. The water collided with the dirt, sending small dust clouds into the air; the scent of nature, the scent of rain, the scent of the warmth rising slowly curled around them. The water was even warm - he’d made sure of it. He’d made sure the temperature was just right. It didn’t feel like Winter rain. They’d cleared the piped of the ice-water when they’d done their practice run.

He knew, now, that the janitor would leave. Somewhere in the distance, his keen ears heard the sound of a door closing; of footsteps descending metal stairs. But then they were gone, and he and Clover were alone.

“I remembered. You miss sunshowers. It’s not the same thing, but I tried to get it as close as I could…” he said. He’d put a lot of thought into it; so many places had been considered. He’d tried to figure out how to rig it indoors but it was only as he passed by the nature dome that he realised it was the perfect place. It had to be somewhere where the cords and the lights wouldn’t be seen. It had to be as real as possible.

“Do you like it?” He had to ask. He couldn’t wait.


<Clover> For once, she wasn’t the one full of uncertainty, and she couldn’t describe the level of relief. Clover had thought her initial reaction would have been enough, but she’d been in his shoes before. She’d once been waiting, with baited breath, for the anticipated reaction. Instead of kissing him, she let her arms fall from around him and took a step back. Tipping her head back, Clo looked up through the green leaves as if she were searching for the familiar circle. If she’d had the opportunity, she would have stared right into the sun. She’d missed the warmth. She’d missed the green of Spring. Even though she preferred the cold, she’d associated the sun with warmth and greenery. She’d associated such things with life. And he’d given her a large piece of what he’d stolen.

“It’s great,” she reassured. The sound of the rain punctuated her words. Individual water droplets clung to her dark brown hair and ran down her cheeks, slowly soaking her body. She didn’t need her leather jacket anymore, not with the warm interior, so she slid her arms from the sleeves and tossed it aside. Whether or not she had the opportunity to recover the garment made absolutely no difference to her.

Clover could only imagine how much time and effort Jesse had put into the surprise. And he’d remembered. Of course he remembered. He listened, even if he interrupted, even if he remained silent. That was one of his strong suits. Despite her love of the man-made sunlight, rainshowers, and warmth, she’d heard the retreating footsteps, and she knew Jesse must have heard them too. The presence of someone else didn’t matter though, otherwise Jesse would have reacted. The person must have had something to do with the surprise, or must have seen the two of them and realized that he or she wasn’t wanted and wasn’t welcome.

“It’s perfect. It’s better than sunlight.” Their honesty meant that she was telling the truth. Her words had required quite a bit of thought, which was why she complimented the surprise twice. Clo leaned down and undid the straps on her flats, then she kicked the shoes in the direction of her jacket. She meant to explore every inch of the place, and she meant to get absolutely soaked, right to the bone. “Can we keep it? Can we do this again? It’s like the green room, except it’s bigger,” she began rambling.

Clover wandered to and fro, making a small circle around him. She had her palms cupped to collect some of the water, which she then released. The whole place made her giddy, and she finally understood how he felt when she surprised him. Their roles were reversed. She couldn’t say she had a problem with it, not when they were surrounded by such greenery, tucked so neatly into a slice of paradise. Though she hadn’t left him, she knew she wanted to wander around, to explore. “Do you want to look around with me? I’m excited and impatient.”


<Jesse Fforde> Jesse didn’t take his eyes from Clover. As she removed her jacket and tossed it aside, his eyes were glued to her face, to every twitch and every twinkle in her eye. It’s great, she had said, and the words and all their possible meanings. It’s great, on its own, wasn’t exactly reassuring. With just that as an answer he had to wonder whether she was lying, whether she was just trying to appease him. A cheap imitation of the real thing might have been perceived as an insult to what she was missing.

When her shoes followed after the leather jacket, and she uttered the second compliment, however, Jesse was inclined to believe her. Finally, he allowed himself a broader smile and Clover a tentative nod. Jesse hadn’t thought beyond the initial phase. He’d imagined what Clover’s reaction might be and beyond getting ‘dirty’ in the dirt, he hadn’t wondered what else might happen. Of course, she might want to explore. That much was a given. And yet, Jesse hadn’t factored it in.

Bright blues glanced toward where he knew the lamps to be, before he cocked his head in the opposite direction.

“You don’t want to ruin the effect by seeing how it was done,” he said, before he, too, was toeing out of his shoes and removing the outer layer of his clothing. While he did so, he tore his gaze from Clover to again appraise the dome. Another thing that he hadn’t factored in was that Clover might want to do this again - that she might want this to be a permanent activity in their nocturnal lives. It planted the seed of an idea in Jesse’s mind, one that would plant roots and begin to flourish. But for now, it was simply a seed, nourished and watered, and forgotten in lieu of the promise of fun. He laughed.

“It is like the green room. But bigger,” he agreed, and nodded. His body was lax, relief at Clover’s approval of his surprise clear in the way he held himself. “We can’t play tag in the green room,” he said, stepping forward to brush a light and quick kiss across Clover’s lip, pinching her hip at the same time. “Tag,” he chirped, before his toes dug into the dirt and he took off, ducking beneath the bright wet leaves of a palm tree, slapping the greenery aside to disappear into the depths of the arboretum.