**Has been re-edited, hopefully its better now**
1987 – New South Wales (Australia)
"Ahh Miria, isn't it wonderful here?" Isaac bellowed out loud throughout the hot open paddocks beside Miria. Miria put her hands in the air, jumping up and down by his words as if under red cordial hypnosis.
"Oh yes it is Isaac, nothing beats Texas!" Isaac nodded intelligently and then grabbed her shoulder quickly.
"No Miria, Texas is in America m'dear. Right now we are in Australia! Aaaaaand do you know why that is hmmm?" Miria stopped on the spot to think.
"Because of the big bunnies they have here? They are so cute how they hop, hop, hop everywhere."
"Well those big bunnies are apart of it but not exactly! We are here to get rich! For I am a genius and have a plan that doesn't involve stealing!" He said in an over-dramatic cunning voice. Miria's jaw dropped in amazement, waiting to hear his genius plan.
"Well aren't you going to ask me what my super amazing plan is m'dear?" Isaac coughed as Miria put her hands together as if going to pray for forgiveness in the confession-room at a church, not like she would have gone to a church without coming out with the church donations.
"Oh what is it Isaac! I can't wait to hear it! Tell me please!" Isaac cleaned his throat and puffed out his chest, eyes closed and nose to the hot blazing sky.
"We are going to scam the Australian Meat Market. Down-under meat is quite popular I hear and people pay top money in neighboring countries for a good ol' Australian steak." Miria squealed with excitement of the idea and clapped her hands vigorously.
"So that means we are going to have some moo cows right? I want one with spots…" she almost quietly said to herself. Isaac grabbed her wrist and yanked her infront of himself surprising her, getting a 'whheeeee' from Miria at the action.
"No Miria, we are not getting cows, we are getting those big bunnies and selling them as cows. I heard their meat looks and tastes the same as a cow and they are everywhere."
"Everywhere." Miria nodded confidently.
"But there is only one problem Miria that we must face with this ingenious plan." Miria stopped in her tracks, not noticing the few farmers staring at them both with the same blank expression as the cattle grazing in the paddock they were walking in.
"What is that Isaac?" Isaac lowered his head and sighed heavily.
"Well…in order to sell those big bunnies under the disguise as cows it would be hard since they hop."
"Ha, yeah they hop a lot." Miria agreed.
"Yes I know that, but there is only one way for us to fool people into thinking those big bunnies are normal cow meat Miria, do you know what that is?"
There was a long pause as she sincerely put some thought into his question.
"Turn them into cows?" Miria responded.
"No of course not, now that's just silly, we would have to kill them of course! And cut them up into steaks and put big ol' price tags on them." Miria's eyes almost popped out of her head in shock; the top of her right cheek twitching involuntarily. "Umm Miria, are you ok dear?"
"You can't kill them big bunnies! THEY ARE JUST PLAIN CUTE!" Isaac burst into tears, nearly crushing Miria into his chest with a big bear hug, gaining a bit of a crowd of farmers and their children gathering to see the commotion.
"I know I can't Miria! I just, I, I just cant bear to see such an adorable creature get slaughtered for our own profits, that's just cruel isn't it?" Miria sobbed onto is shoulder louder than Isaac had been, the farmers' wives taking their children back to their houses worridly.
"But mummy, they are weird, I wanna watch them….." one child whined as his mother pulled him away.
"How could anyone even consider doing such a thing Isaac?" Isaac pushed Miria away from his chest to arms-length, hands gripped on her shoulders and he looked straight into her eyes.
"I know hey? Only some cruel man could have thought of that, I defiantly wouldn't have. Looks like we have to go somewhere else to get rich I guess Miria." She nodded and wiped her tears away as they continued on down the paddock. "Stealing just seems such a more considerate thing for us to do, I think we should stick with that."
"Apart from the big bunnies, Texas is pretty boring." Miria sighed, brushing the sweat from her head.
"I couldn't agree more Miria, I couldn't agree more."
1934 – Manhattan
"What could this man be thinking? Is he crazy? Or just idiotic?" Chane thought to herself as she found yet another box at the door of her current house she was living at. She looked both ways suspiciously before picking up the box and bringing it inside her home; closing the door with a soft click. She walked towards a table that was situated in the centre of the very clean living room; clean because she didn't have much in the way possessions to form a clutter anyway. No vases, no portraits hanging on the walls, no fancy sculptures, books or paper was anywhere to be seen; it was just plain boring. As she reached the table she placed the box on top gently, sitting down on a matching chair that was obviously bought with the table by whoever bought them at the time. She looked curiously at the box and reached for the fancy ribbon that held it together, pulling it slowly from one of the ends until the simple knot was undone.
"Its probably clothes again." She thought inwardly with a smile. Clothes was all she had received from him as of yet, which she honestly didn't mind since it gave her something different to wear everyday. She had even gained compliments from local passerby's when she had gone to the market place for shopping, which was something she had never experienced before, and something she was really beginning to like. Chane's smile grew as she lifted to top of the box off the reveal a bottle-green garment folded elegantly inside.
"A pretty colour." She grinned, looking towards the window to make sure no one was watching her without her knowing; a bit of paranoia she figured. Chane went back to the box and lifted the item of clothing out, leaving the bottom of the box filled with lime coloured tissue paper in which the dress was sitting on, standing at the same time to see the full length in-front of her.
"Elegant, just like the box, and simple too. Not like the other dresses he gave me. They were all extravagant and classy, and not of such a colour either" She wondered, placing the dress against her body, walking out of the living room and into her bedroom. In her bedroom she stopped in-front of a tall and thin mirror to view how she looked in her new dress. It was three-quarter length, covering most of her legs until about fifteen centimeters below her knees.
"Why would he give me such a different dress? It is very…" there was a pause in thought for a moment and headed back to the living room to where she had left the box. She placed the dress carefully on the table and looked into the box incase of a letter was put inside. She turfed around the tissue paper and felt something of a different shape underneath the layers. She lifted the object out to discover it were a glossy black shoe that, which she guessed was to be worn with the dress.
"Maybe he wants to see me again this man." Chane put the shoe aside and started taking out the tissue paper to find another shoe and two smaller boxes down at the bottom. She took the other shoe out, placing it beside the first and took one of the two boxes out, the larger one to begin with and opened it.
"A leather watch? How peculiar of him, I thought men receive the watch and women are presented with jewelry. A strange man he is indeed." Chane took the well designed black leather watch out of the little box and strapped it to her left wrist comfortably. The contrast of the leather and her skin was very strong but matched her hair at least, along with the shoes.
"Thank goodness he didn't get too many colours or I'd resemble a clown." She inwardly sighed and then finally grabbed the second little box. "I wonder what you are going to be."
This box was covered in a velvet layer which she guessed meant it was expensive. How men could spend such money on a woman was beyond her but it got her curiosity flowing along with her blood-flow. She lifted the lid which had a little hinge on the back to prevent the lid to be completely removed, to reveal a fine silver necklace. Before Chane could think straight, already her face felt hot and her heart was beating fast from the surprise.
"This is…the first piece of jewelry he has given me. It, I, it is beautiful!" she eagerly picked the silver chain up from the velvet box and held it against her neck as if it were on, then undid the clip on the back to put it on properly, quickly scooping up all of the other gifts from the box and taking them all to her bedroom to try them all on together, not noticing the letter stuck to the bottom of the lid. –
Dear Miss Chane Laforet,
I hope you have humbly enjoyed these small tokens of my, well I wouldn't say loving heart because lets face it, not many people would see a murderer would have the ability to have a heart and I did originally want to kill you once or twice which would give you or any other person the wrong idea, but I do hope you adore them. I want to see you dressed in the content you have received by me so I can see you in something less formal when I see you again.
I would like to meet you again as soon as I finish up some "business" in Brooklyn if you get my drift. Hopefully I didn't soil your new outfit with blood, might have to get you something red next time so it wouldn't be a problem. Then I guess next time I have some fun on a train I won't stand out so much.
I'll visit you at your home when I get back so don't go anywhere or I might have to kill someone to find you. Just showing how much I care and all that jazz.
Yours sincerily,
Claire Stanfield
1934 – Manhattan
"Ya' know wha's one of tha best things about this here country?" Firo exclaimed as they examined all the fresh produce all laid out at the stalls. Ennis held Czes's hand as they walked behind the enthusiastic Firo who was leading the way.
Czes had been taking regular visits to talk with Rachel since she was someone else who he could freely talk to about his immortal status, and well seemed to enjoy his company however awkward it probably was for her to keep up proper adult conversations with a snotty nosed sized kid who probably had a far wider vocabulary than herself. For Rachel, she found Czeslaw interesting to talk to, since he had also experienced first hand what really happened on the Flying Pussyfoot incident, just a lot more intensely than she had.
Ennis noticed Firo looking back at them both as he had announced his rhetorical question, she gave him a look of "yeah carry on and tell us" and he seemed to get the drift.
"Thanksgiving! Its like Christmas early ya know? Don' get a flashy holiday like that in any other country I'm telling ya now, aint get no flashy big bird either." He stopped at a stall to his left that had potatoes covering most of the table and started looking them over. The stall man was watching him like a hawk just in-case he got any ideas; since he looked like one of those people that would tell you to look one way as they stole your hat after complimenting how nice it looked on them to get on their nice side. Ennis looked at him strangely and then at Czes.
"What is Thanksgiving? Are we thanking someone Firo?" Ennis questioned. Both Czes and Firo looked at her awkwardly after she spoke.
"It's wher…." Czes started.
"Ya don't know? Wow yoose 'ave been missin out m'dear. It is the time of tha year every die hard American looks forward to evry year, an' evry immigrant that likes a good ol' piece of turkey. Wait, you haven't had a Thanksgiving before now 'ave ya Ennis?" Czes decided that there was no way he would be able to get a word in sideways so he chose to watch the happenings around the market instead. He noticed a stall with little scaled down sized cars and trains and then remembered Rachel telling him once that she had loved trains.
"Hey Ennis, can I go for a wander by myself for a bit, ill meet up with you guys later ok?" Czes tugged on Ennis's long sleeve to get her attention.
"Of course, we'll meet up at the stall we saw before with the corn and leeks, the one with the red roof alright? We'll wait for you there when we are finished." Czes shook his head politely sideways.
"No I mean I'll meet you all home later, you know I'm capable by myself, not that I can get killed or anything." Ennis nodded and let him go in amongst the wandering people of the market. Meanwhile Firo approached her with a paper bag with potatoes inside it and he looked around noticing Czes was gone.
"Where'd tha little tyke go?" He said concerned. "Just got him back from his last little visiting trip and he's already gone again?" Ennis inwardly smiled and patted Firo on the shoulder, starting to continue their walk around the market stalls.
"He said he had some errands he wanted to do, will be back tonight." Ennis replied to soothe Firo's thought. Firo huffed to catch up with her and stopped at the next stall which had carrots and sweet potatoes.
"Pffft, ya mean he wont be back 'ntil next week. I swear if I ever get a cat I will name it Czes, since tha lil' bastards come 'n go as they please." Ennis placed some carrots and small sweet potatoes into another paper bag and they both continued on through the market.
"Well he isn't technically a little boy." Ennis threw out to support Czes just a little, much to Firo's amusement.
"Bet if ya scared him good enough he would sound like one…"
"Well anyway, who are we giving this Thanksgiving thing to? And a fancy bird? Is it something like a parrot or a pheasant we are giving?" Firo sighed as he readjusted the bag of potatoes he was carrying in his arms; constructing a simple way to explain the holiday to her without furthering her confusion. He looked at her with the corner of his eye and felt really good. She was defiantly intelligent which made him feel really smart when she had to ask him questions.
"As far as I know, not usually blackn' out half way through Thanksgivin' 'n all, we arn't giving anyone anything. We are celebrating good food, or some good harvest or somethin'. I just see it as a way to get a nice fancy dinner cooked an' to drink a lotta liquor. As for the 'Fancy Bird', it's usually a turkey roasted with vegetable stuffs an' served with alcohol of course resultin' in a big party an' probably a fight or two, but ya cant help tha idiots that wanna ruin evrythin'." Ennis looked at him trying to absorb all the information he had tried to get her to process, the expression made Firo smile since, he had to admit, she was pretty cute.
"So it's just a dinner then, with lots of people?" Ennis said bluntly.
"Yup, summed up in a few words ya got it spot on."
Czes approached the stall with the toy model cars, trains and other forms of transportation and put on a face of the ecstasy that a real child would if they saw toys like that.
"Cool toys hey kid?" The stall owner said with a heavy voice. He was well built and had quite a lot of facial hair, which was the same as the hair on his body as well; any more hair and he would be identical to a gorilla.
"I want a train one sir but I can't choose which one." Czes said as innocently as he could, keeping his eye on two well crafted train engines. The big man looked around Czes, looking to see if he had any parents with him; if there were parents, there would be money.
"Well boy, these trains are expensive, you might have to go ask your mummy or daddy to buy one for you." The man said in a kind voice. Czes already knew that he thought he hadn't any money on him because he looked like a little child and he snorted offended.
"I got money sir, and I think I want that black and gold one in the corner there. How much?" the stall owner frowned.
"More than you have, now scram brat!" the man yelled at him, waving his giant hands around just centimetres above Czes's head as if he was shooing a fly. Czes was getting quite agitated now but tried to hide it under his child appearance.
"The price tag on that one here I can easily afford, so I should have enough for the one I want, but I can't see it from here. How much sir?" Czes pointed to one car toy that was at the front of the stall which had a large sum of money wanted for it. The man spat onto the ground behind the stall and lifted the train Czes wanted up and looked at the tag.
"Forty bucks boy, now hand it over." Czes gave a light laugh and handed over the money to the man and took his train. Then he looked at the price tag and noticed it wasn't actually that much but a lot less; not that money really was an issue for him anyway. Even though it was a highway robbery for such a petty item he was relieved that he didn't have to argue with that man again.
"Hope you believe in karma sir, because it will get you back like a stab to you fat gut." And at that Czes left the man shocked at his change in character, heading towards the endless crowds of rush hour market place people. "I hope Rachel will like this for all the trouble it was worth."
"Wow those turkeys are really big birds!" Ennis said in admiration as she looked at all the large plump birds in the butchers on display. "How are we going to eat all of that?"
"Well we invite people over of course, like that random couple we met that time…umm those stage performers that you said you hit with your car once!" Firo said matter-of-factly, making the butcher a little uneasy.
"Ah, Miria and Isaac, I heard they were going to dig up gold somewhere though. So they may not be still here within driving distance."
Hmm we'll have to see if we can catch them both, oh we also have to invite Miaza, Luck, and the rest of them. And I'm sure Czes would like to bring Rachel along too. I'm sure being an information collector going to a mafia member's place for dinner would make 'er come no sweat." Ennis's eyebrows furrowed a little.
"But wouldn't your family be hosting their own of sorts? You think they would come?" Ennis knew that they wouldn't probably celebrate any holiday event because of their "work" but it would have been rude crossing them all out altogether. And besides, some of them had gone to parties with her around and seemed like the kinds of people that would put a brake on work for a bit of fun anyway.
"Hmm ill have to ask 'em I s'pose. I usually have it with them or just Maiza, a few of the Gandors perhaps an' whoever decides to rock up for a drink. Better get a smaller turkey I reckon, might not have much ova in the end ey?"
"Might just be us three? Oh by the way, when is Thanksgiving?" Ennis totally forgot to ask, could have been tomorrow, next week or next month for all she knew.
"Next Thursday. Might leave the bird until the day before methinks. Ready to go home?" The butcher sighed in disappointment of them announcing that they weren't going to buy and left his store.
Ennis and Firo started to head towards their home route when Ennis stopped and turned around heading towards the stalls again nearly loosing her bag of vegetables she was carrying.
"Hey we forgot the milk Firo!"
** Sorry if it seems to feel like a bit of a filler but im thinking of doing some little spin off "get rich quick" scams for Isaac and Miria from stories I have heard been done by people, such as disguising kangaroo meat for cow meat which was done a lot in Australia since kangaroos are very common and the meat tastes almost the same as beef that people have seriously not noticed and had been paying top money for what they think is cow, when it is actually the cheaper meat which people think is 'eww' because most see kangaroos too cute to eat. I'm also trying to bring some of the other characters in but I might have to do some rewatching on the anime to get accuracy right, since I've only seen it once and quite a while back some bits might be wrong and PLEASE correct me if I have but don't be rude about it. I swear I kept typing Rebecca instead of Rachel….**
Author's Note: Next chapter might contain some adult scenes so if it offends you I can cut it down or have an at the start and finish so you know where the graphic prose is. I also don't celebrate Thanksgiving since im not American or Canadian but I love the idea cos I love turkey :P so if I got the information wrong there forgive me. It's the 4th Thursday of November right?