Chapter Six: The Milan Reconnaissance
The Hartley kitchen had settled into something approaching a war room rhythm, which was to say it was chaos with a color-coded binder and significantly more squeaking.
Cecil had discovered that Mr. Binkie produced different sounds depending on where you bit him. The head went *SQUEAK*. The left ear went *squeak*—higher pitched, more desperate. The right ear produced a sound that Matt had described as "a dying clown," which was apparently hilario
Riley won't stay oblivious.
Ben doesn't allow passive observers, right now in that car he is working out.
Is this chaotic thing worth my investment of time. Can I break it and reshape it? IS HE REAL?
Then Ben is going to do what Ben does. Build.
Riley is and will continue to have a profound affect on our monster.
Ben's horror is that he is suddenly no longer alone in his world.
He tried to build Kieran into a real person in his world.
Riley trips, lands with a messy plop, and Ben has zero idea how this creature of sheer chaos is the one to do what Keir couldn't.
Ben is aware that Lee Philips is alive, but in his logic the boy is dead, or rather the person he was is dead, which to Ben is the same thing.
I write Ben's take on Lee as being a corpse that hasn't lain down yet.
Chapter Five: The Suburbs of Hell
Bolton wasn’t hell. It was worse. It was aggressive, suffocating normality.
The Jaguar prowled through streets of 1970s semi-detached houses that looked like they had been photocopied by a machine running low on toner, the copies growing fainter with each generation. Pebbledash walls, the colour of dirty teeth. Crazy paving driveways leading to up-and-over garage doors scabbed with rust. Lace curtains that twitched like the eyelids of nervous sleepers
Tyler has a pretty important role in this book, but it's in the second half of it. This one is more about Cecil.
But I will give you a hint. Lynix and Tyler make one heck of a duo.
But yes Tyler is largely supportive boyfriend for Taine, he was written that way. he's calm, patient, and knows his idiot is an idiot even if he's old.
Simon is based off of my Person, who is as some know, an accountant and awesome... Anxious, loves forms, and won't drive at night.
And would look really good with Ginger hair... now to convince him it's for a book... Wait, he knows my very first boyfriend ever was a ginger, I'll get a slap... a deserved one.
I think under those circumstances it would go to the state... somewhere out there, there's a Doctor Xavitrix's home for wayward Cambions... and it gets rebuilt every few weeks due to it burning down.
Note that Mr. Hartley grumbles, but he's never once kicked any of those kids out of his house.
He sits, watches them come and go, eat him out of house and home, and drink more tea than the local flower society gala... one of them LITERALLY is an Angel... and he sits and reads his paper and ignores it all while his Jaguar catches fire, yet again.
Grandpater
Also as I re-read this back the first time after editing months ago...
The Pip-Charlie-Taine triangle. Pip's supposedly cool with it, but there's no escaping that he likes Charlie. And Taine is about as passionate as a limp lettuce leaf, sweet old man energy... hmmmm
I wonder how that's going to turn out.
Chapter Five: The Discovery Phase
The morning of the home inspection dawned grey and threatening, as if the sky itself was bracing for impact.
Simon had been awake since 4:37 AM. He knew the exact time because he'd been staring at his clock, running through mental checklists, and occasionally whispering updates to Lynix via the iPad that now occupied a permanent spot on the kitchen counter. His binder had expanded overnight—new tabs, new color-coded sections, a comprehensive
He has to be thinking something like that... Riley was in the toilets... so Ben didn't do it there...
Riley's thoughts are probably : "You are way freakier than I thought you were, wanking in the middle of a Little Chef!"