Double Trouble

By Troim Kryzl

Episode eight of the 1kYears series brings back Marian, the flashy trans model and marketroid from episode one. They're taking centre stage and provide us with a glimpse of the glitzy end of MMA night life, including the odd dirty secret. Abeo the shrink, Sam the property tycoon and his ghost eSam in supporting roles. The action takes place in real life, but some more details of the virtual resort and what if feels like are nevertheless revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troim Kryzl
• Release date: Jul 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463217030

Troim Kryzl

Not providing a photograph and writing under a pen name for professional reasons. Please refer to my website and LinkedIn profile for as many details as can be made available under my current career circumstances.Mastodon: @[e-mail]

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Double Trouble

Published by Troim Kryzl at Smashwords

Copyright 2019 Troim Kryzl

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

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„Knock, knock, knock. May I? Marian, what a coincidence! Now this is making me feel even more vintage, not so say granddadish, than I actually am. This is very old news, you know?"

It’s Abeo, one of 1kYears’ founders. The only person in the building topping their own level of seniority. As boss as it gets, around this peculiar HQ. Doesn’t behave the part.

Abeo has pushed Marian’s office door slightly more ajar. From the doorstep, he points at the screen covering the wall above their visitor table and continues:

„Have been shown this scene what feels like a thousand times. My mentor, he was so very proud to have been there. And of the two-humps boxer nose he brought back from what happens next. Glaring proof those batons only just visible at the back were wielded real hard seconds later."

Still waiting on the doorstep, still smiling, the shrink pauses before asking:

„Looking for anything special, Marian? Nostalgia for the bad old days of our forebears?"

Abeo is a friend, but also one clever guy. Marian take their time to come up with an answer.

They had been revisiting ancient 2D news footage of a gay pride parade storming the bunkerish fortress that passed for a police station in turn-of-the-century MMA. The colorful crowd was trying to free a friend who had been arrested for firing a confetti canon.

Marian had pressed the pause button at their favourite moment. The attackers had managed to force the outer door and were rushing into the courtyard, making the uniformed thugs retreat into the building where they would regroup to prepare a brutal sortie.

They use this scene to remind them not to mistake minor nuisances for catastrophes.

Not the average way to spend office hours, even for the creative suite. But Marian are anything but average, in many respects, and not into hiding.

They insist on the big difference between privacy, cherished, and secrecy, despised. That’s why they keep their office door slightly ajar, unless visitors provide an excuse to shut it. Their way of implementing the 1kYears open door policy while hoping for people to pause and knock.

A hint lost on most colleagues.

Marian try not to resent their behavior. The average storm-in trouper doesn’t mean bad.

Only Gravid from Finance ambushes Marian on purpose, forever hoping to catch them in a pose that would reveal a true self he‘s convinced they must be hiding someplace. He refuses to accept a pink moustache over a turquoise dress and a non-binary pronoun. They fight back with a combination of haughtiness and extra glamorous smiles.

The other colleagues will also do some Marian speculation, but their failure to pause and knock at their door is devoid of bad intentions. They just lack a hint receptor. Far too preoccupied with whatever errand brings them to Marian’s office and always in a hurry, they notice neither a nearly closed door nor a less than enthusiastic welcome.

Abeo is different. Never in no hurry. Always on the lookout for signals. Even those that weren‘t meant to be sent. Marian prefer not to say anything, prompting the smiling shrink to go:

„Sorry, Marian, do keep it up, please. Just give me a call whenever it‘s convenient, OK?"

Abeo says this in a high-five kind of way. Looking forward to their chat, despite the frosty welcome. Marian suddenly can‘t do without his presence and hear themself beg:

„Oh come on, Abeo, don‘t be a moron. You can‘t just drop by for a teaser and run. Now I want the real thing, and the full menu. Come in, please..."

They don‘t even have to add „...and shut that door", Abeo has already done it. Perfect level of privacy for what Marian have to say next:

„And when I say ‚full menu‘, Abeo, I do mean it. A light appreciation of my professional skills for starters, followed by a more blatantly exaggerated praise of my amazingly youthful looks.

‚Youthful‘ is the important bit here, Abeo, as you will hopefully have noticed. You can leave out my always perfectly balanced and notoriously cheerful temper for the moment. You‘re a good story teller, but I‘m afraid this might be beyond even your skills..."

Marian get stopped in mid sentence by a forceful hug allowing them to rest their head on Abeo‘s shoulder and shut up. That‘s another plus, with this shrink. He‘s tall enough to lean into. Marian‘s catwalk looks come with a height that triggers resentment in most men. Never at ease around beauty, they get seriously edgy when looked down upon.

Turning the hug into a more matey embrace and both of them towards the screen, Abeo goes:

„Know what, Marian? I‘ve seen this so often, but I never noticed how uplifting it is. This still, it looks so powerful and proud. All this exhilaration to actually cross the threshold, lighting up each and every single face. So much gay pride, and all black, for once. I never saw that.

Failed to grasp why my mentor loved to revisit, despite what a baton did to his face next, and what he had to endure in the weeks of custody that followed.