"…"- conversation
'…'- thoughts
"…" – Zoids and Organoids talking
Chapter 4: Hiding and Discoveries
Red River Base, Central Continent of Delpoi, Planet Zi – December 24, 4:55 PM
"Hey, you hiding out here too?" Irvine asked Raven as he crouched behind his Lightning Saix, which was parked against a wall of the hanger, complete with a rather high stack of wooden crates nearby as well. Thanks to an encroaching shadow from a small overhead window, Irvine was relatively sure that no one would find him.
Raven glared at Irvine half-heartedly, not really in the mood to argue. Turning his head he grunted, which Irvine took for a yes. The GenoBreaker pilot was seated on a much smaller crate, legs stretched out in front of him. The stack of crates did their utmost best to shield the seemingly disgruntled pilot; Irvine knew the feeling all too well.
"If it makes you feel better," Irvine said, making himself comfortable on a slightly higher crate, "you're not the only male to hide from women on Christmas Eve." When Raven didn't answer, Irvine continued, "All men do it, and if they're unlucky enough to be stuck helping out with chores, then, well, just be glad it's not you."
'Hypocrite,' Irvine told himself mentally, 'you have no inkling what you're talking about, considering you never even celebrated Christmas before you met Moonbay… and even then, you only celebrated the damn thing when you were with her.'
Raven turned his amethyst gaze on Irvine and asked, "For your information, I'm not 'hiding out' here. I'm talking to Shadow." He motioned with his head to where the black Organoid was perched above Raven, the light blue eyes regarding the ex-mercenary with a morbid curiosity. Beside him, Irvine caught a glimpse of Specula, who was curled up in a ball, yellow eyes hidden and Zeke, who was moving over towards him, ruby eyes glowing. Grinning, Irvine petted Zeke on the nose, causing Zeke to growl happily.
"That so?" Irvine asked nonchalantly. "What about?"
Raven gazed at Irvine for a moment then, shrugging said, "Zoidian Holidays." Raven ignored Irvine's intrigued look at his words and continued, "Specifically, if Shadow had to deal with chaos like now when he was still living with Zoidians." Raven was, understandably, still a tad embarrassed over Ryss' action from that morning (not that anyone knew but himself and Shadow… or, at least, he hoped) but, oddly enough, had come to terms with it. Of course, this realization coincided with the horror that the seminal idea of a few years ago – Ryss was an alluring woman – had manifested into something akin to the idea that she was beautiful and he may or may not be in love with her. Raven had spent the day hiding from the holiday activities, mostly by laying flat on the base's roof; then, he had gotten hungry and ventured down to the kitchen. Now, rather than journey back to the roof, he had decided it prudent to conceal himself in the Zoid hanger. Although physically calm, his emotions were in chaos, moving through cycle after cycle with no end in sight.
Shadow nodded and, glancing between the two humans said, "I was just telling Raven that Ancient Zoidians did celebrate holidays, most of which were centered on solstices and harvests. We also celebrated something similar to this... Ristmas."
"That's Christmas, Shadow," Zeke responded, turning his ruby gaze on the black Organoid. "I believe that it's pronounced 'Christmas'." Shadow subtly rolled his eyes at the silver Organoid's words; honestly, Zeke was such a stickler for grammar; who the hell cared?!
"Whatever." Shadow scoffed, leaning down so that Raven could pet his nose. The amethyst-eyed man did as his Organoid asked allowing a small, genuine smile to curl at the side of his mouth as he did so.
After a minute, he straightened back up and continued. "Anyway, we did not celebrate this 'Christmas'," Shadow made sure to pronounce the word right to ensure that Zeke wouldn't nag him again. Honestly, who gave a damn if the word was pronounced right? It wasn't like one of the two remaining moons was going to fall if he didn't pronounce something right! "We did celebrate something similar to it though, and it was our biggest holiday, complete with many gifts and parties."
Raven shot a curious look at Shadow, who had shivered in remembrance of the month's worth of parties and celebrations, the worst of them right around the holiday itself. He did not want to remember them at all.
Irvine looked at Raven to translate, knowing that without a bond with an Organoid all he understood was that the growls and snarls meant something. Dr. Dee had come in handy, after all. After the raven-haired pilot had translated, Irvine whistled and commented, "Well, sounds like our Christmas came from your celebrations. What were they called?"
Shadow and Zeke looked at each other, not sure how to answer, but then Specula blinked open one yellow eye and, yawning, replied, "It was called 'festum plenilunium'." Specula's other eye opened and, yawning again she got up and stretched, similar to how a cat would stretch after sleeping in the sun for a few hours.
Shadow translated for Raven who mulled it over and after a minute said, "That sounds like Latin." On seeing Irvine's confused expression, he rolled his eyes and said, "Latin, as in one of the dead tongues of Zi?"
Irvine blinked before understanding what Raven was talking about. "Oh, that Latin. Got ya." When Raven shot him a bemused look, Irvine grinned and continued, "What? I do. I'm not totally ignorant of different languages, you know." He mockingly sniffed superciliously. "I had some experience with them in my days as a mercenary."
The two men then began talking about their days as mercenaries, with Irvine detailing his run-ins with different languages, among them Latin. Raven's smirk was fairly pronounced as Irvine launched into the tale of how he'd been caught while in a bar watching a fist fight with a punch to the back of the head, dragged out to an abandoned warehouse and threatened with a small switchblade from a man who had absolutely no clue what he'd gotten himself into by kidnapping a well-known mercenary. Needless to say, said man was currently working on a farm, content to never see another Zoid again; the Command Wolf hadn't taken to well to having his pilot kidnapped...
After a few minutes of swapping bar stories and brawls, conversation soon switched to how chaotic the base was, with Raven sharing the last Christmas he remembered celebrating with his parents before Ambient had killed them. Irvine said nothing, knowing that his commenting on it would only make the raven-haired pilot angrier and more bitter; considering that Raven was now vowing to find Ambient's remains and burn them, it was understandable that Irvine didn't want to risk his neck.
Conversation continued between the two pilots until they heard footsteps echoing in the hanger, and both grew silent, hoping that they would be passed over by the footsteps' owner. No such luck.
"There you two are," Fiona said, her crimson eyes taking in the slightly guilty expression on Irvine's face and the stony one on Raven's face. "We've finally located all of the ornaments that were in storage throughout the base, although we could have used your help." She stared at the two men, causing Irvine to squirm just a bit uncomfortably. Raven remained stoic.
Fiona sighed and, folding her arms continued, "No thanks to you two louts, we're ready to begin decorating the tree."
Irvine sighed and, getting to his feet, turned to Raven. Rolling his eyes, he commented, "See? What'd I tell you – chaos."
Raven's lips quirked into a semblance of a smile and, getting to his feet motioned for the three Organoids to follow him. Shadow made sure that he was right next to Raven, with Zeke running up so that he was next to Fiona, who started petting him, crooning praises for being such a good boy and for alerting her to Irvine and Raven's locations (the silver Organoid was branded a target then and there by two irate ex-mercenaries). Specula followed behind everyone else, her yellow eyes looking over Raven and wondering just what her mistress saw in him. He was a churlish, inconsiderate and a cold-hearted man… although; he did have a different side when around her mistress. Maybe that was it; she'd have to ask her later. She also had to admit that Shadow was very attractive…
Red River Base, Central Continent of Delpoi, Planet Zi – December 24, 5:15 PM
When Irvine and Raven entered the lounge, they were highly amused when they saw that everyone was gathered around the tree (which had been placed in a corner of the room and whose top just brushed the ceiling). They also saw that Rudolph and Maryanne had arrived. Moving over towards the young man, Irvine reached out and ruffled Rudolph's hair, causing the young emperor to wince and bat Irvine's hand away.
"Good to see ya, squirt," Irvine remarked, causing Karl to wince internally. By the Zoid Eve, didn't these people know that it was plain out rude not to address the emperor by his proper title, much less name?
Rudolph's scowl quickly turned into a smile. "Good to see you too, Irvine." Standing next to the tall mercenary, Rudolph seemed to be a kid, even though he had hit a large growth spurt recently, shooting up over a foot and a half, resting at a respectable five foot six inches.
Maryanne frowned on not being noticed but when she saw Zeke her eyes brightened and she shot towards the silver Organoid, wrapping her arms around the Organoid's neck. "It's so good to see you Zeke!"
Zeke shot a look at Fiona, who was grinning. It plainly said, 'Help me!' Maryanne didn't notice the increasingly panicked look adorning Zeke's face, too busy hugging the miniature dragon and rambling about the wedding to Rudolph that was sure to happen in the future.
Fiona was saved from having to do the job when an explosion echoed from the next room. Shrieking, Maryanne quickly released Zeke, startled, and moved to hide behind Rudolph, who rolled his eyes while sporting a small blush. "What was that?!"
Van, grinning, replied, "Oh, just a late visitor, isn't that right, Dr. Dee?"
The door opened to reveal the older man, whose white hair was tinted light gray with smoke and, making for a comedic effect one of his eyebrows was bellowing black wisps of smoke, obviously having been on fire. Irvine promptly burst out laughing, followed by Ryss, who was utterly amused to see a man who had been on fire. Raven, who was leaning against a wall, openly smirked while Fiona glared at Irvine and moved to help the doctor.
"Are you okay, Dr. Dee?" she asked, eyes roving over the doctor worriedly.
Dr. Dee waved his hand and replied, "Just fine, my dear. I merely added a wrong electrical charge to my newest creation." Glaring at the laughing Irvine and Ryss, he folded his arms across his chest and added, "Glad to know that some people find my failure amusing."
Ryss was the first to stop laughing and, calming herself down said, "Sorry, it's just that I've never seen someone look so calm after seemingly burning himself."
Dr. Dee seemed mollified by Ryss' answer and after a minute replied, "Well, I don't think I'll bother with Irvine, considering that all he does is disrespect me." Dr. Dee wiped a tear from his eye. "And to think that I was the one who gave him his Lightning Saix."
Irvine had by now stopped laughing and was outright glaring at the doctor, whom he was sure was baiting him to get him in trouble with Fiona, who loved the old man to pieces. He knew for a fact that the tears were fake, merely added to increase the drama. Rather than replying, Irvine stalked off to sulk in a corner of the room, ignoring Dr. Dee's maniacal laughter.
A few minutes later, Dr. Dee was explaining his invention to an excited Rosa, who was looking enthralled with his explanations. For that matter, so was Thomas, who was standing next to Rosa and was taking notes. In fact, they were very close... and, hell. Irvine may be no expert when it came to romance, but he knew the beginnings of a possible one, and damn if it wasn't in front of him between Thomas and Rosa.
Damn it, that was part two of his bet with Rosso that he wouldn't confess to Moonbay (about anything, but in this case his feelings... whatever they were) unless Raven and Ryss were caught making out in public (which had happened and which Irvine wished he could forget) and Thomas got himself a girlfriend (Rosa seemed to be filling that role quite well). Irvine had a nasty feeling that Rosso knew that the two conditions he had set down had been fulfilled and now he would have to pay up, and, yep, there was Rosso grinning at him. Damn it.
