"Shake it love, shake it shake it, shake it shake it love, naui mam-e deul-eowaseo-"
The blaring pop song was cut off as Eli picked up the receiver.
"Shane residence," was his greeting, as usual.
"Hello!" said a masculine, obnoxiously cheerful voice from the other end. "Am I speaking to Mr Eli Shane?"
"...yes?" Eli said hesitantly.
"Mr Shane, my name is Gerald and I'm calling on behalf of Bullseye Cavern Ligh-"
"We already have all the lighting we need for this place, thank you!" Eli snapped, and he slammed the receiver down with a sigh.
"Are you kidding me?" asked Kord from the couch. "That's the third time they've called this week!"
"I thought I said we should take this address off their calling list?" asked Trixie. "Finishing move."
She casually pressed a button on her controller, and the cave troll three times her size was left gaping at the screen in horror.
"Face it, big guy," she said smugly. "You aren't ever going to beat me."
Kord buried his face in his hands.
"You're right," he groaned. "I don't know why I even bothered."
"Never fear, my cerulean compadre!" Pronto offered a less-than-comforting pat on the knee. "Pronto shall avenge you in your defeat, and in your honour, he shall obtain the... uh... the..."
He glanced from the TV screen to Trixie, who was eyeing him in amusement.
"What is the point of this again?" he asked.
"To win the Golden Grenuker," Trixie said flatly as the game returned to its title screen. "That's why the game is called 'Legends of the Golden Grenuker'. I'm the only one who's ever actually won it without dying even once, of course-"
"Then Pronto the Legendary will obliterate your winning streak!" Pronto triumphantly snatched the controller from Kord's hands. "Prepare for an emotional annihilation the likes of which you have never been familiar with!"
"Wait," said Junjie from the other room, and he entered carrying his slugs and all of them wearing excited smiles. "This is an event I do not want to miss."
"Well hey, make some popcorn if you're that excited," Kord said unenthusiastically.
As the onlookers waited with baited breath, Trixie loaded up a new match - a one-on-one PvP - and shared a daring glance with Pronto.
Eli and Junjie leaned in closer, eyes fixed on the screen, as large fiery numbers counted down from 3... 2... 1...
BEGIN!
Trixie's fingers raced over her controller and she bit her lip in determination as Pronto pressed a button and discovered that it made his character crouch, avoiding punches and leading Trixie to adopt a kicking strategy. The Molenoid desperately fiddled with toggles and triggers, trying to figure out which would activate his combos, but it was too little too late as Trixie happily played her finishing move and Pronto's character promptly exploded.
Now it was Pronto who was gaping at the screen, though this time he was accompanied by a background of Eli and Junjie struggling to contain their laughter and Kord side-eyeing him with a happy little smirk.
"This controller is cheap!" he exclaimed, and tossed it onto the sofa.
"Nah, you just suck," said Trixie. "Not surprising though. You're looking at the 99 Caverns' All Time Golden Grenuker Champion 5 years in a row."
"We'll claim that crown someday, Trix," Kord promised.
"And that is a promise we can all agree on," added Pronto.
"You two can cut it out now!" Kord said to the two humans who were still laughing.
"Sorry," Eli said between his giggles as Junjie tried to catch his breath. "I'm just... Pronto, what the heck did you expect?!"
"Pronto always expects greatness!" Pronto declared. "He does not expect to be humiliated!"
"And yet you chose to challenge Trixie," Junjie gasped between wheezes. "I hate to say it, but in this case, you most definitely brought it upon yourself."
Pronto would have responded with another annoyed remark, but then the phone rang again.
"Oh, come on!" cried Eli.
"I'll get it this time," Junjie said once he had caught his breath, and he walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver.
"Shane residence," he greeted.
"Ach, smegging finally!"
At the sound of the new voice, Junjie froze.
"You know, I've been dialing every single number in sequence hoping I'd eventually reach you, JJ," she ranted. "It's taken me three bloody days just to get through half the West! I swear, you are not an easy lad to get hold of."
Junjie sighed.
"Blue," he said, "if you had simply asked for our number, I would have-"
"You could've just told me regardless, you numpty!" Perry pointed out. "Didn't the thought ever cross your mind? Did you not think maybe sometimes I might want to call you?"
Surprise was quickly replaced with shame.
"...apologies," said Junjie.
"Is that the McLinden lady?" asked Kord. "Ask her how good she is at Golden Grenuker!"
"Doesn't matter, I'd still kick her butt," Trixie boasted.
"What in crivens' name are that lot blithering on about then?" asked Perry.
"Nothing important," Junjie told her. "It's just a video game that Trixie happens to be amazingly proficient at, yet Kord still challenges her for her crown. Pronto just made an attempt. He failed miserably."
"Really?" Perry sounded genuinely intrigued. "What kind of game? 'Coz if it's one of those dancing things, I'll happily come over there and give some arse-beating."
"I bet you would," Junjie replied with a smile, "but it's a fighting game."
"Oh, now I'm really interested," Perry said enthusiastically. "All those wasted calls will definitely be worth it if you tell me everything you possibly can."
"And you're sure you wouldn't rather hear it from the master herself?" asked Junjie, and he looked back at the rest of the Shane Gang, who were eyeing him with curious confusion.
"Nope!" Perry responded cheerfully.
Junjie would have been put out, but any excuse to stay away from noisiness, particularly relating to games, was welcome as far as he was concerned.
So he sat down against the wall and made himself comfortable.
"You think this is going to be a regular thing?" asked Kord.
"What do you mean?" asked Eli.
"He means Junjie's been on the phone to that McLinden lady at least once a week for the past six weeks!" Pronto pointed out. "Our phone bill has gone from zero to a hundred in no time flat!"
"It's nothing we can't handle," Trixie said. "Besides, she seems to make Junjie happy, so there can't be too much wrong with it."
"So long as the Northern woman isn't secretly plotting another means of wounding Pronto," Pronto grumbled.
"Are you ever going to get over that sarsaparilla thing?" asked Kord.
"No I am not," snapped the Molenoid.
Eli leaned over the couch and watched the continuing call, with Junjie seemingly growing more and more invested in his explanation with every passing word.
He couldn't help but wonder...
"JJ, you sound knackered," said Perry. "What time is it where you are?"
Junjie failed to stifle a yawn and looked over at a clock.
"It's... a quarter to ten in the evening," he told her. "I'm sorry if I seem unresponsive, I've had a rather long day. Everybody else has already gone to bed."
"You want to tell me what happened?"
"I'd rather not. It wasn't what I would call pleasant."
Without seeing her, Junjie could tell she was shrugging.
"Fair enough," she commented. "You want me to hang up and we can try again some other time?"
"No, I wouldn't want to waste this call," said Junjie.
"You're kidding, right?" asked Perry. "If you ain't up for it, then I ain't either! Go to bed, you silly smeghead! Call me back in the morning!"
"I'm fine, believe me," Junjie told her. "Just a little tired."
He yawned again.
"But how are you?" he asked. "Have you been on any particularly exhausting missions lately?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it exhausting, but I did have to go with Benny when he were mapping the Southern Plateau and make sure none of the wilder folks down there tried to hurt him," she explained. "Got back from that earlier today. I'll admit it was kinda fun heading there again. I mean, it was hotter than hell, but it ain't half pretty. Might go there again at some point!"
Junjie smiled. Of course she'd like it. It was probably almost as hot as her temper.
"But are you totally sure you're not wanting to head bedwards?" she asked. "I know we've been at this for eight weeks already and it's kinda becomin' a routine, but I don't want you calling me while you're knackered just 'coz you feel obligated to."
His smile faded.
"Mind you," she continued, "I do think I'll sleep better tonight than I did while I were down there. Not as many bugs, you ken?"
"Yes, I ken," said Junjie. "There were hotter regions in my realms that I would occasionally have to spend multiple nights in. I know plenty about how to repel insects. Although..."
"Although what?"
"You could consider catching yourself a Slyren slug. Their singing resonates on a frequency that sends any living creature to sleep. Not only would you have a good night's rest, but any bugs wanting to snack on you would be too busy sleeping to even get close."
There was silence from the other end until-
"That ain't a half-bad idea," said Perry. "Aye, I might try that! I mean, I have absolutely no bloody idea where we'll find one of those, but I know Lenny'll love the hunt!"
Junjie smiled again, glad that he could be of help.
"I am serious, lad," said Perry. "Ring off and go to bed. I'll call you back next week and we'll chat again then, okay? And if you're as worn out as you are right now and still refuse to ring off then I'm taking the bloody ferry over there to tie you down to your bed."
"Alright, alright," Junjie said with a faint snigger. "Goodnight, Blue. I'll speak to you again soon."
"Just get some sleep, okay lad?" Perry finished.
She hung up.
Junjie sighed and rubbed his face. It was true: he was exhausted and he definitely sounded it.
So he got up, staggered to his bedroom without even turning any of the lights off, fell onto his bed and despite being fully clothed, he was asleep in seconds.
"Okay, I'm trying to figure it out-"
"Do you see an option for camera anywhere?" asked Junjie.
"Aye, and I'm clicking it, but it ain't doing nothing!" Perry insisted.
"It might just need a little time to buffer," Junjie suggested.
"Wouldn't it have told me?" Perry demanded. "It would've told me by now if it was bloody buffering!"
"Try to be patient!"
"I AM being patient!"
The static flickered away to be replaced by a living room, mostly hidden by a frustrated face.
"It's working!" Junjie said.
"Is it?" Perry pulled back. "So it is! Hey, mate! How you going?"
"I'm doing well," said Junjie. "You don't appear to have changed at all."
"Of course not!" Perry said cheerfully. "I'm way too awesome as I am to go changing myself. Although..."
"Although what?" asked Junjie.
"I did get one of me tatts added to," she admitted. "Got it done not long after that Fogfall Island business. Just a little update, nothing really massive. You wanna see?"
Junjie felt his face flush.
"What's with the face?!" Perry chuckled. "It ain't in a personal place, I promise!"
"A-alright," Junjie said, though he knew that shame was an alien concept to this woman. "So long as you're able to keep your pants on."
"I will, I will!" Perry said.
Junjie watched as she stood up and pulled off her belts, then unzipped her vest and tossed it onto the couch behind her.
"Are you going to take your-" Junjie started, but finishing was unnecessary as she pulled up the left side of her dress and moved her bare skin closer to the camera.
The man watching would have been alarmed by her sudden nakedness, even though it was only her side, but was distracted by the greenish-blue lines curving up her skin. From what he could tell, the tattoo was of a three-pronged fern, decorated with small circles akin to bubbles, but rather than leaves, the fronds bore words in the shape of leaves which Junjie recognised as names.
"A fern of names?" he said questioningly.
"They're people who're important to me what passed away," she explained. "You see any familiar?"
Looking closer and thankful for the darkness surrounding him that allowed him better view of the image, Junjie was able to read the names: "Lizzy" was above "Bobby" on the central stem, "Alice" and "Lewis" sat on either side of the right-side stem and on the left one...
"Athos, Porthos, Aramis, d'Artagnan," he read. "Those are-"
"Someone had to remember them," Perry said as she dropped her dress and her face returned to the video feed. "Someone had to remember them as more than just nasty people who wanted nowt but destruction. They were people too, however you look at 'em. And if I couldn't save their lives, I can at least make sure they ain't forgotten, you ken?"
"Yes, I see," said Junjie. "Who are the rest, if you don't mind me asking? I assume Lizzy is your mother."
"Aye, that's right," Perry told him. "Bobby was her mam. I never met the lady, but she's the reason Mam was what she was, so it makes sense to keep her in mind, don't it? Alice and Lewis were Mama Cathleen's parents, so they were the closest I ever had to a gran and grandpap."
"That's a very touching gesture," said Junjie. "Considering how your most visible tattoo is a spiderweb, I'll confess I didn't expect you to have that sort of thing, even hidden away."
"And what did you expect?" asked Perry.
Junjie shrugged.
"A skull?" he suggested. "With wings? And studded with diamonds? And now I'm going to stop because I don't want to give you ideas."
"Are you kidding?" Perry seemed aghast. "JJ, that is the tackiest idea for a tattoo that I have EVER heard in my whole life."
Now it was Junjie who laughed.
"Yes," he admitted. "Yes, you're right, that was awful, I'm sorry."
When he looked back up at the screen, Perry was watching him with a soft smile.
"Is it that amusing?" he asked.
"No," she replied, "but the fact that it's taken three months of calls for you to turn out to be a massive dork definitely is, wouldn't you agree?"
And now it was Junjie who was smiling.
"Yes," he said. "I suppose it is."
"So Blue, what's the big news this time?" he asked as he made himself comfortable, keeping his voice as low as he could to make sure he didn't disturb any of the other people in the house (as they were trying to get some sleep - four months of these calls had left them a little disillusioned to them).
"Well," said Perry as she too sat down, "you remember the Companimole bros, right?"
Junjie thought back, combing his mind for the memory.
"I think so..." he replied hesitantly.
"They ran the ferry that took us to Fogfall Island, remember? Told us it was wet and deadly and always would be?"
"Oh yes, I remember," Junjie said, recalling the strange trio of Molenoids. "Why do you mention them?"
"They decided they were going to quit the ferry business and move to Ludgate Cavern to start their handymanning, or maybe handymoling would be more appropriate," Perry explained, "and 'coz of that, they needed someone to take care of the Phosphoro they had on that hellrock after they were gone. With that in mind..."
She held up a slug in front of the camera.
"Say hi, Flare!"
Junjie smiled as the happy little Phosphoro slug gave him a cheerful wave.
"So they left their slug with you for safekeeping?" he asked.
"Can you think of anyone better?" Perry said smugly as she brought her rookie closer for a headrub. "Lenny offered to take her in, but she wanted to stick with me. I think she's after a little bit of adventure after spending so long living as a beacon. You'd be the same if you spent every single day in a little tank, wouldn't you? Didn't want to go settling down. Wanted to get out and see some action!"
She let the little slug jump down off her hand.
"I hope she's getting along well with the rest of your arsenal," said Junjie. "From what I remember, your Infurnus isn't quite what I would call social."
"Nah, Fury's okay with her," Perry replied. "We'll all be heading out the the Eastern Ridge to deal with a ballsy robber tomorrow so she'll get a taste of a proper fight."
"A robber?" Junjie's curiosity was piqued. "What have they been stealing?"
"Mostly slugs," said Perry. "And I've had reports of people going missing too. Folks who come back sans their slugs say it was some gamer scunner. Gotta admit I'm not looking forward to kicking the arse of a nerd, but if he's nicking everything and everyone then someone's going to have to put a stop to that."
"I'm surprised you haven't given her a new name," said Junjie. "Flare, I mean. From what I can remember the rest of your arsenal have names like Barry, Steve, Graeme-"
"She's got used to Flare!" Perry pointed out. "I'm not 'bout to go giving her a new name after she's spent so long with that one! Same with Fury. Much as I'd like to call him Tim instead after the moody bloke what lives up the cliffside from me, he's used to it and to switch now would just get confusing. You remember how baffled you were when I first called you JJ, right?"
Junjie nodded. Even now he could easily recall how strange it had been to have his name shortened in such a fashion, when... hang on.
"You do realise that 'JJ' has the same number of syllables as 'Junjie' don't you?" he asked.
Perry hesitated.
"I have only just realised that," she said. "Crivens, what the hell, brain?"
"If it's any help, though I doubt it would be by now, some of my closer companions in my homelands would call me 'Jun' for short."
"Aye, you're right, that ain't too much help now."
She fixed him with a glare which Junjie found difficult to break his eyes away from. Her eyes had always been a rather icy shade of blue, but now they looked like fire.
Then she looked away, suddenly thoughtful.
"That's got to be the first thing you've ever told me about your life before the West," she mentioned. "Back when you was with me in me North, you were uncomfortable mentioning it."
Now it was Junjie's turn to be hesitant.
It was true. What he'd told her was a personal detail about his life in the East, and yet he'd revealed it so casually.
Odd.
"Perhaps I'm simply comfortable telling it to you," he said simply.
Perry smiled. It was soft and peaceful, and rather refreshing and pleasant for a person who was frequent to large, excitable grins.
"It's nice having someone to talk to," she admitted. "Someone other than the usuals we're surrounded with."
Junjie smiled too.
Sometimes it just wouldn't be honest to disagree.
The dialing tone ended with a click, followed by silence.
"Are you there, Blue?" asked Junjie. "I know it's late, but these calls really are far easier when my friends are all in bed."
Still there was silence, save for a faint sound of breathing. It was obvious someone was there, but they weren't responding.
"Perry?" Junjie tried her real name. "Are you there?"
"Aye," was the response. "Aye, it's me, I'm here, I'm just- I've had... had a lot on me mind lately."
"A lot on your- what's wrong?" asked Junjie. If something had this woman upset, it must be bad.
"It's not important," said Perry. "Ain't anything you need to be worrying about, lad. Personal stuff. McLinden stuff."
"You're my friend," Junjie pointed out. "If something's bothering you, I want to hear it, and there's a good chance that you'll feel better knowing a weight is off your shoulders. Have you ever heard the saying a problem shared is a problem halved?"
More silence from the other end.
"If you like, we can change this to a video call," he suggested. "I'd be welcome to that if talking face-to-face would make this easier for you."
"That..." Perry said. "I think... I think I'd prefer that, thanks."
"Alright," said Junjie. "I'll hang up and I'll boot up the system, so you do the same, okay?"
"Okay."
She hung up.
After hanging his own receiver, Junjie approached the computer console - which had been accidentally left on by Trixie after her latest edit-cramming session - and set up the video chat program they'd had installed months ago to make distress calls easier. He saw that Perry was already online, and quickly clicked on the little camera icon in the corner of the screen.
He was relieved to find that she looked more-or-less the same, except there was something in her eyes that seemed a little off. Worry? Exhaustion? It wasn't entirely clear.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "You don't look like you usually do."
"I ain't feeling like I usually do, lad," Perry confessed. "See, I- I found this thing. In me house. A thing I didn't even know was there and I've lived in this place for close to 21 years so I'm feeling like a pretty big dafty for not noticing it before."
"And what's that?" asked Junjie.
"My house," said Perry, "has an attic."
Several questions popped into Junjie's head. He decided to get the most stupid one out of the way first.
"I thought the people of Highland Cavern live in mines and caves," he recalled. "How is it even possible for your home to have an attic?"
"It ain't your stereotypical attic, love," Perry told him. "Just like mine ain't a stereotypical house. We got our bathroom and bedrooms one floor down from everything else rather than up. Spiral staircase leading down there. I guess I was a pretty big moron not to think that the column in the middle of that stairwell is big enough to hide a ladder inside."
Junjie didn't talk. He kept listening.
"I accidentally slipped and hit it as I were heading up in a rush," Perry explained, "and this door swung open. I didn't even know it was there, it's pretty well hidden. And inside was a ladder. So I got Fury with me and I headed up, and I found... it's kinda hard to explain. You know what Highland Cavern is like, right? All that underground stuff, the gold and ore that people were mining?"
"Yes, I remember," Junjie said, sensibly omitting the world 'vaguely' from the end of that sentence.
"McLindens use that, see?" said Perry. "If we get short on cash, we just chip a bit of wall off, take it somewhere it's needed and flog it. I wouldn't have half the stuff I've got now if it weren't for the mineshaft we have hidden on the lower floor, and I think this attic thing must've started out that way, but I went up and there were all these boxes and framed photos and stuff. And it all belonged to McLindens past. I found Linnhe McLinden's journal; she was me great-great grandma, operated in the late 1800s. I even found Bonnie McLinden's shawl and she died over 250 years ago!"
"Why does that have you so troubled?" asked Junjie. "Surely something like this should have you overjoyed. It's your ancestry, after all."
"It's partly it's 'coz me mam never told me about it," said Perry. "I spent seventeen years of me life with her and never once did she say 'hey Perry, you wanna see the hidden attic?'. Makes me wonder if she didn't trust me with that stuff up there. Why would she keep it all from me? Didn't she think I'd be curious about all me past generations of family?"
Junjie nodded. He understood her feelings, even if he'd never experienced them himself.
"But it's pretty bloody obvious she meant for me to find it," Perry ranted on, "because the thing that's got me most upset about the whole thing is this."
She held up a thick, blocky-looking envelope.
"What's in there?" asked Junjie.
"Hell if I know!" exclaimed Perry. "You think I've had the guts to open it? It could be a book or a case of jewellery or a photo album full of pictures of Mam with whichever scunner she banged so I could exist- all I know is it's got this written on it."
She held the envelope up to her camera and Junjie read
For Periwinkle
age 18
"She meant for me to see it once I'd taken over," Perry told him. "This is something she didn't want me to look at until I'd got her job. And I can't for the life of me think of any reason why that would be!"
"Do you want to find out?" asked Junjie.
"Of course I want to bloody find out!" shouted Perry.
"Then why don't you open it?"
"Because I'm scared to, alright? I'm scared of what it might be, what it might not be, if it'll be something fantastic or something awful or something that'll make me want to puke-!"
"Whatever it is can't be too world-shaking if it's from your mother," Junjie pointed out. "Especially if it's small enough to fit into an envelope, never mind its size. And besides, I'm right here. In a way, we'll be opening it together. You're alright with that, aren't you?"
Perry rubbed her eyes, somehow not smudging her as-always impeccable make-up.
"You're right," she said. "Aye, you're right. I'm just going to have to bite the blaster and open it."
She took a deep breath and ripped off one of the envelope's edges, and pulled out something black.
"Well?" said Junjie. "What is it?"
She didn't reply. Whatever it was, she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.
Even as she reached up towards the camera.
"Wait, Perry-!"
Too late.
The feed was cut off.
Junjie sat back and sighed. Five and half months of consistent, regular calls to one-another seemed to have been brought to an abrupt end. He considered walking over to the phone and calling her the old-fashioned way, but if she was so disturbed by what she had found that she had cut off the video call, obviously something had rocked her to the core.
He rubbed his eyes, much like she had. It was nice to talk to her, but having to stay up late to do so wasn't as nice.
But what was in the envelope?
What had her stunned so overwhelmingly?
Obviously he wasn't going to find out tonight.
Junjie paused, his fingers stopping several inches short of the receiver.
"Ugh, dude, come ON!"
Annoyed, he looked round.
"Have I done something to offend you?" he asked.
"Offend? No," said Eli. "But come on. If you want to call her, just pick up the phone, dial the number and say 'hey, it's been two weeks, why haven't you called?'"
"It's not a simple as that, Eli," Junjie stated.
"But he has a point!" cried Pronto. "You've been hanging around that phone like a bad smell and I know plenty about bad smells!"
"That we can vouch for," Trixie commented.
"So for cavern's sake," Pronto continued. "Just pick up that phone, confess your love and get the issue over with!"
Junjie would have responded with something snarky, except...
"...confess my love?!" he repeated.
"Aw, come on, don't say you haven't noticed," said Kord, not looking round from his work. "You don't think we haven't seen that look on your face every time the two of you have one of your calls? That little smile that's always there?"
"It's because she's a friend," Junjie insisted. "Can you honestly tell me you never feel happy when you speak to a friend you feel lucky to have contact with?"
"Well, duh," said Eli. "I live with four of them."
"Junjie," said Trixie, "the look on your face when the two of you talk; the only word I can think of to describe it is bliss."
"She hasn't called in two weeks!" Junjie stated angrily. "The last time she spoke, something had her extremely troubled to the point of not being able to continue the conversation. I haven't called her because I don't want to intrude on her privacy or her personal space-"
"Shake it love, shake it shake it-"
In shock, Junjie glanced over at Eli, who nodded at him as if to say 'Be my guest'.
Still a little hesitant, Junjie picked up the receiver.
"Shane residence," he greeted once more.
"Hey, JJ."
He had to force himself not to fall to his knees in relief.
"Blue, what the hell is going on?" he demanded. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? You just rang off for two weeks and-"
"I'm sorry, okay?" Perry interjected. "And I do mean it, so just drop it right now."
Junjie sighed. He probably sounded angrier than he felt.
"Can you at least tell me why you didn't contact me?" he asked.
"I did a bit of thinking," Perry explained, "and I figured it might be a bit tricky discussing stuff over the phone, or even in video chat."
There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" said Trixie, and she made for the building's entrance.
"So what?" asked Junjie. "How will you tell me?"
"Simple!"
The line was cut off. Junjie stared at the receiver in confusion.
Behind him, the door opened.
"I figured it'd be best to talk in person."
And that reply had most certainly not come through the phone.