Sorry this took a while... I was going to introduce a new character... but I figure to wait until later...
This is just a filler chapter... not to much development...
Enjoy...
Mephiles decided: That's it… I have to get out of here… But how do I tell that to Rae? She seemed so excited that I was going to work here… and I do kinda owe her…
He looked up to see Rae happily shelving mangas, her tails waving as she made comments about each one like: "… When I get enough money… I am so buying you…" and "… Hmm… didn't know volume seven was out already… damn, I'm behind…"
Suddenly, she churred excitedly as she jumped of the ladder (at the third step!), and held up a particular manga in front of Mephiles' face.
"Do you know what this is?" She said, her tails crissing and crossing with excitement. Apparently, she got excited very easily, as her eyes seemed to light up at her discovery.
Mephiles, however, couldn't really see that well, as the manga was right in his sight, blocking out everything, and making it very blurry to see.
"I… can't really tell… I can't see with it up so close…"
"Oh, sorry…" Rae pulled it back, and Mephiles could see that it was a copy of the manga adaptation of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which he could tell by the cover. He had never really seen the movie, what with his ten year entrapment in the Scepter of Darkness, meaning he missed out on some things. He had heard of it recently, with a little clicking around on YouTube, and part of him was interested in it, and the other part found it a little scary looking, so he wanted to wait until later or it he could convince Shadow to watch with him.
"I saw the movie along time ago when I was a little kid…" Rae said, grinning as Jak looked up at her from the floor. "I really liked it, but I kinda lost track of it existing after my foster days… I didn't remember it existed until sophomore year… kinda silly, huh?"
"No…" Mephiles shook his head, hoping to direct the conversation another way, so he could try and bring up the possibility of him leaving. "Not at all…"
"I've wanted to watch it again, but Mom said she wasn't going to buy it… she only seems to like a few Tim Burton movies, like the Batman ones, and I think she liked the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one, though that may be just me… Anyway, I have three versions of "This Is Halloween" on my player, phone, and computer… I just love listening to them, don't you?"
"Actually… I haven't seen the movie… at all…"
Rae's eyes widened in surprise.
"How old are you?"
"Depends, what time era do you want to go by?"
"… How about the one that's in this one first, then the one where you're from…"
"Ten years, and in the future… two hundred and ten…"
""Wow… that's… unexpected…"
"And how old are you?"
"Seventeen… going on eighteen… you're… about as old as my 'baby' brother… you know?"
"That just made my age more embarrassing…"
"Try being as old as I am, and having the brain of a small child sometimes… that's embarrassing…"
Pause.
"When's your birthday anyway?"
"Why?" Mephiles asked, wondering how the conversation shifted to that.
"I like to know my friends' birthdays, so I can know ahead of time and I don't forget them…" Rae set the manga aside, pulled her phone out of her tails and flipped it open to get to "Calendar". "You do know your own birthday… right?" She joked playfully.
Mephiles froze. He had never really tried to figure out his birthday before. After all, it would mean he would have to think back to the lab accident, and calculate the days from there. And, frankly, he didn't want to think about anything having to do with that day, at least… not now.
"Are you okay?" Rae asked concernedly, sliding her phone shut, and tilting her head.
Mephiles had tensed up at her question about his date of birth, and seemed quite troubled when she had joked about him not knowing it. He regained his composure and turned away, crossing his arms, and taking a step towards the counter, keeping his head lowered as he pushed the memory of the laboratory to the back of his mind.
"… I'm fine… I just… I… I dunno…" He blinked, and saw that Rae was now in front of him, her head tilted questioningly.
"Dunno what? Your birthday?" She asked.
"A… a lot of things…" He said, turning away, and taking a step towards the back room. He felt like he needed to get out of the room right now; he could feel a dizzy spell coming on, and he knew if he didn't find a place to sit down, his body would make him, or rather make him drop to the ground again. He pressed a hand to his forehead. "… C-can you help me? I need to sit down…"
Rae nodded quickly, and braced him under his elbow, leading him to the chair in the back room, Jak tailing behind them.
"You're not okay…" She said slowly, as she let go of his arm. "I dunno what's bugging you, but I can feel your aura… and it doesn't feel happy…"
"Wha..?" Mephiles half forced himself to say as he saw Rae shiver. Rae looked down at him.
"What I meant to say is…" She stopped for a moment, before forcing herself to laugh in hopes that would help the shady hedgehog feel a little better. "It's kinda hard to say… I can't really read body language too well… but I can sense the way one's feeling in the air. It work the same way with little kids and babies… I can feel more or less what you can if I'm close enough… I think it's called 'empathy'… or some kinda '-pathy'… no… wait, its 'empathy'…"
"You… can feel… what I'm feeling?"
"To a degree… let's just say, if you start crying around me… you won't be the only one…" She bent down, and picked up Jak. "It's dead useful, too… I can feel whatever Jak's feeling, too, and I don't even have to be in the same room too…"
"How is-?"
"Let's put it this way… Jak needs to go out… and my Cousin is holding me 'captive' in the rec room, while Jak's in my room. He knows he can't go in my room, so he's not a happy puppy. I'm in the other room, and I suddenly feel like he's next to me, whining… but he's in my room. I get up, and take him outside… he's a happy puppy now. Then again… that could just be an example of our Dog-Owner relationship..."
Mephiles looked up at her, his dizziness leaving a little.
"And now…" She said, grinning a little. "I sense that you're feeling somewhat better… though your mind is still burdened with a heavy thought…"
"How do you know this stuff?"
"I dunno… I just do…" Rae said as Jak licked her hand and let out a high pitched whine. Rae looked down at him and nodded. "Jak says he's gotta go… hold on…"
She set him down and walked out crossed the main room to open the door, Jak shooting outside.
"Try to use the tree!" She told him loudly, before waving to the left. "The other one… no… the other one… good boy!" She laughed nervously before turning her head upward to give him privacy. "Silly dog…" She said mostly to herself as Jak trotted back in, tail wagging as he made his way to Mephiles. "Can't believe I've had him for over a year already… time flies…"
Mephiles raised his eyes at her, watching her flick a finger against the tufts on her left ear, her tails twitching.
"So… tell me more about this… Tails Doll Curse…" He said, watching her tails wave behind her.
Rae looked up, no amount any emotion expressed on her face.
"You sure you want me to tell you? Ky is more experienced… she would be a wiser choice…"
"No… it's okay… you can tell me…"
Rae heaved a sigh.
"Okay… fine… Stitched with evil, stuffed with hate… he is the last thing you see before you die…" Rae started. "He is hungry for souls…"
"And that's why you should never, ever, ever screw around with a curse like that…" Rae concluded, turning the lights back on, which had turned off in the middle of her explanation of the curse, nearly giving Mephiles a heart attack. "Faulty wiring… I told Ky we needed copper, not aluminum wiring… but, noooo… 'It's cheaper.' She said'." Rae growled lowly.
Mephiles exhaled for the first time in three minutes, his lungs starting to hurt form lack of oxygen.
"Anyway…" Rae continued. "As far as the curse goes… Kyrenoria has T.D. under control for now… and as part of the deal, Jak and I are off limits for his soul payment… in fact, he only steals souls on her command…"
"Wait… she owns that thing?"
"Not really own… more like a… partnership…"
"Partner… ship?"
Rae pointed a little disapprovingly at Ky, who was currently being hassled by a tax collector at the counter. Ky was writing down some numbers as the tax collector went on.
"You haven't paid your taxes, yet…"
"I'm sorry, I'll get to that later…"
"It's about a month overdue…"
"Whadya want from me? I'm sixteen!"
"We're going to have to repo the shop…"
"I'm afraid you'll have to leave…"
"I'm sor-"
"T.D! GET HIM!"
And with the roar of "SCRUMPY!" the plush fox toy leapt over Ky and at the tax collector, who dropped out of sight with a scream. The glow of bright blue washed over the shop, and Ky looked over the edge of the counter with a bored expression on her face.
"Rae? Do we have any more room in the closet?"
"You have to stop doing that… I am not helping build another closet…"
"Whatever…"
Mephiles was convinced… he was quitting soon.
The part about Tails Doll stealing a tax collecter's soul was Kyrenoria's idea, by the way... :D
Laters...
