The Runetales stories are sexual works of fiction. All characters in the series are 18 or older.
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Madison sighed. "I do not understand this part of you."
Rune turned to take in her pretty eyes, her quirked mouth. "What about me?" He smiled wide.
Madison shifted, annoyed. They were sitting in the back of Sydney's car. It was a ten year old Buick, crappy on the outside but very well maintained. By Sydney herself, who had learned car maintenance and a host of other things from her parents.
Rune was drumming his hands on his knees, bouncing in his seat, grooving to the metal Syd insisted on playing every time she drove.
"You're in a ridiculously good mood. Disgusting for this time of the morning." Madi looked legitimately grumpy. She was very much not a morning person.
"C'mon Madison! Don't be such a puss!" Sydney was rocking along to her music, enjoying her "func-rock" outfit, as in "functional rock." Her hair was up in a tight bun. Her army jacket was festooned with a bunch of band pins, and beneath she wore a tank top and slacks. Her glasses flashed in the morning light.
In the front next to her Alex was alternating between sipping his coffee and avoiding Syd's elbows. He wore his usual uniform of a polo shirt and dress pants.
Madison had her own coffee, which she sipped with an accusing look on her face. "Hmph."
Rune couldn't help it. "Hey Alex, where we goin'?" Alex slipped a hand into the back seat over his shoulder.
"To the zoo, my man!" Alex said as Rune slapped him five.
Madison screwed up her mouth. "And we're going to be there all day?"
"And into the night. Remember, you wanted to do some volunteering." Rune was ebullient.
"Yeah, I thought we'd help at a homeless shelter! Or do some shopping with some homebound folks. You know, stuff that might actually make a difference." She was getting legitimately pissed, so Rune dialed it back.
"Madi, we're going to make a difference. The zoo needs volunteers for the outreach programs. We're going to be helping with tours during the day. And then we get to have fun tonight, they're doing night tours. Small groups with personal guides."
Madi spent a minute looking out the window at the traffic going past. "So we're helping kids."
"Yup."
"You know I'm not that interested in lemurs or whatever." She sounded less huffy.
"Well that's good. They don't have a lemur exhibit." He knew as he said it ... yup, she swung back to give him some industrial-strength stink-eye.
"With personal tours it'll be interesting. They'll give you the big picture. And they'll have food, and we can hang out and chat, and ..."
"Oh, just shush Rune. She's in a mood. Probably her full moon." Syd grinned into the rear view mirror.
"You know it's not. Just ... " Madison trailed off.
Rune leaned over. Quiet and serious, he asked. "I'm sorry. You okay?" Madi nodded, and looked back out the window.
There was a long pause, and Alex said "Annnyway, I'm glad we got coffee. I'm not much of a morning person either."
Sydney shrugged. "I'm just naturally awesome all the time." That, Rune agreed with. Sorta. Sydney started out in a good mood every morning and gradually got more cynical as the day wore on. "Rune what are we doing? Specifically?"
Rune pulled out their folder from the pocket behind the front passenger seat. "Well, they just gave us assignments as a group. We can do whatever."
Alex nodded. "What are our options?"
Rune read down the list. "We have ... guide assistance at the monkey house. Two slots for school kid check-in at the front gate. And keeper assistance in the large mammal house."
There was silence in the car for a moment. Syd said, "Rune how much would you hate me if I called the keeper thing?"
Now it was Rune's turn to glower. "All the hates. I would hate you all the hates."
Madi spoke up. "I'll take one of the school check ins." She didn't turn around. Just settled down deeper into her hoodie. Actually, Rune's hoodie. Beneath it she wore an ankle-length black cotton dress.
Syd dramatically rolled her eyes in the front seat. "Rune, I'll get you off the hook. I'll take the other check in with Madison."
Alex turned his head to grin at Rune. "Monkeys for me, then?"
Rune put his hands together in a mock prayer. "Please?"
Alex looked dramatically into the air, considering. Then slowly raised an emperor-style thumb of approval. Rune bumped his fist from the back seat as Syd threw up the horns and turned up the music. "Zoo! Yeah!"
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The day passed quickly for Rune. Working with the keepers behind the scenes was a huge thrill for him, getting to see zoological theory put into practice. It was somewhat repetitive work, but the keepers were happy to keep up conversation.
When the keepers were busy, Eve and he played through Dragon Quest VIII on his HUD. He'd already burned through the 360's launch titles, and his backlog had gotten pretty short once he gave in to Eve's whining. "You have tons of time during the day where you don't have to be paying attention! I get bored!" Since it was effortless to split his attention between his body and immediate surroundings and his HUD, he'd finally relented.
The zoo started closing up at 7, and then there was another hour of cleanup with the keepers. By the time Rune got over to the rally grounds for the day's volunteers, the sun was well below the horizon. The place was lit with ornamental light posts, shedding attractive pools of light every hundred feet or so. The noise of the day's crowds had faded, and the only sounds in the night were the animals settling down to rest.
The zoo animals, and the college animals. As Rune approached the zoo's front circle, he heard music and laughter. One of the keepers had mentioned the other volunteers had finished earlier than he had. He was coming to the party late.
There weren't many people from Turing volunteering today, so Rune didn't see anyone he recognized when he hit the edge of the circle. A quick scan of the crowd came up negative for his group, so he grabbed a bottle of water and started mingling.
He was very pleased to learn that a lot of the other volunteers there were as into zoology and the institution as he was. There were a lot of pre-meds and science majors in the crowd, and more than a few cute girls.
He was chatting up a girl with blue close-cropped hair that had spent the day working at the reptile house when Alex tapped him on the shoulder.
Rune smiled. "Hey man! Vanessa, this is Alex. Alex, this is Vanessa. She's on her school's speech team too!"
Alex's eyebrow went up. He and Heather had never actually been dating at the Halloween party, and he hadn't had a date in a while.
"Hello Vanessa!" Alex said expansively. He had a worried look on his face. "Um, would you excuse my friend and I for a minute?"
She nodded, and Alex took Rune aside to the food table. Rune put a slider in his mouth while Alex said, "Dude, you need to talk to the girls. I think something's wrong."
Rune looked at him questioningly.
"I dunno. They were working together all day, and I think something happened between them." Alex said, concerned.
Rune swallowed. "Where'd they go?"
Alex pointed wordlessly back along one of the paths towards the bird house. "Okay, I'll go talk to them. I probably wound Madi up this morning."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Alex asked.
"No, no. Actually," Rune grabbed his shoulder and swiveled with him back to look at Vanessa. She was talking with another student and laughing. "I want you to talk to Vanessa. She's good people, and I think you guys would hit it off great."
Eve whispered in his ear, "Potter."
"Ask her what house she'd want the sorting hat to put her into." Rune said out loud.
Alex looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
"She mentioned she liked the series. Trust me." Alex nodded, and walked off towards Vanessa. Rune nodded, and walked off into the darkness.
"Where'd you get Harry Potter? You aren't sneaking nanites into other people now, are you?" He asked in his head as they walked away. He and Eve had spoken at length about the mortality of such an action and for right now he was against it.
"I'm playing nice. No, I just looked her up online. She has an old livejournal full of Hogwarts stuff. She actually does seem like good people. I wanted him to have an in." Eve responded.
Rune chuckled to himself as he walked further along the path. He realized he'd been walking a while, and started getting a little worried. That was when he spotted Sydney sitting on a bench on the side of the path.
"Hey." He said. When she looked up, he gave her a half wave.
"Hey Rune." She didn't sound upset, but she didn't sound like her usual in-control, positive self.
