Disclaimer: I totes magotes forgot to fill in the disclaimer last chapter, please forgive me and refer to every chapter in this stories history for clarification that I do not own Db/Z/GT or Mr. Handy from Fallout 3 X)
Dude Where's My World:
Revised
Chapter 12: The one with the Bug
"Valerie sent me in here to get you out of bed," Bra informed Josie with a sigh of dissatisfaction, her arms crossed as she entered the threshold of Josie's bedroom. She was unhappy with how the morning had turned out thus far, feeling Josie and Valerie really had to have a malfunction for being so difficult about something that should be so enjoyable. "How could you both be so against shopping!" Bra growled softly, figuring that of course this would be her lot in life — after being around men her whole life — that the first two older girls she gets to live with are tomboys.
"I know what you're thinking." Josie cleared her throat strongly, as she sat up in her bed, hair askew in her ponytail. Bra lifted a brow, ready to hear it. "And that's not it — I mean yes, I wouldn't like shopping regardless, sorry—I don't want to go because—Can you close the door?" Curious, Bra did as she requested and went to stand at the foot of her bed, before slowing to a stop and making a small noise, tilting her small head to the side and staring at Josie like she was an alien. "What?" Josie asked, self consciously.
"You're sick." Bra pointed out through a giggle, and — Josie hoped that she was mistaken — but she seemed to be more fascinated rather than concerned.
"How!" Josie demanded, her voice breaking a bit and coming out more nasally and whiny than before. Bra rounded face grinned, knowing that she wasn't asking how she'd gotten sick but how on earth she could possibly know that she was sick.
"Take your pick," Bra said with a mild shrug, tapping her nose and then her ears. "My brother is better, he can just go off of some weird pupil stuff—don't tell me you don't already know about this?" Josie's horror gave way to embarrassment…barely.
"I mean…it makes sense—ugh," Josie plugged her nose and pushed air through her nostrils to force them open and to clear her itchy ears. She couldn't sound congested or the others would know too. Bra went to Josie's desk and grabbed the box of kleenex to give to her. "—No—" Josie shook her head in refusal. "If I take that those then I'm acknowledging that something is wrong and nothing is wrong, so I am not taking them."
"Your logic is bad and you should feel bad about it." Bra said dryly, amused by Josie's stubbornness, glad that they at least had that in common. "But your reason for not going to the mall is good, which is a shame…I would have really enjoyed shopping with you." Bra admitted with a smile, setting down the box of kleenex —despite Josie's protests— on her bedside table. "I'll let you make it up to me with a pre-birthday shopping trip next month." She assured Josie with a wide grin, making it to the door before Josie stopped her.
"—Wait! Please don't tell your mom about this." Josie's nasally and pathetic sounding voice requested through a flinch. Bra turned around to hear her plea. "If she knows she won't let me go to the gala tonight and I really want to help her after my screw-up yesterday." Bra stared at her solemnly, considering her request with quiet dignity, like the royal Princess that she was. Josie felt pretty pathetic for begging for mercy from a ten-year-old girl, even if she was royalty, but she'd do what she needed to do here. "All I really feel is a scratchy throat and a little stuffy, honest."
Crossing her arms, Bra posed one more objection. "…What are you going to do if my brother comes in here to ask why you're not coming? I'm telling you that his senses are better than mine."
"I'll…spray myself with perfume and turn on music as soon as you get out."
Bra smirked at what an amusing sight that would make, and she couldn't help but respect Josie's improvisational skills. "Alright." Bra agreed with a nod. "But blow your nose and promise me you'll go on a shopping trip with me." Josie's face immediately scrunched up but Bra gave her no wiggle room on her request.
"At least don't force me to blow my nose…" Bra grinned in response and Josie had her answer. Sighing, Josie did as she was bid and fell back on the bed, feeling lightheaded, cold, miserable and very annoyed with the cackling kid exiting her bedroom door and —apparently evil— ally.
Bra knocked on Valerie's bedroom door and told her that Trunks and her would be waiting downstairs. Valerie came out in less than a second, door handle in hand and eyes narrowed on hers then quickly to Josie's door. "What do you mean you and Trunks? What about Josie?"
"She's busy today at HQ and she has no need for a dress since she's just staff, so there's no use in having her run around looking for dress with us all morning and tiring herself out, now are you ready?"
"B-but what about me? Should I really be tiring myself out before tonight?" Valerie tried to argue weakly.
Bra raised a brow at her. "You'll be dancing a couple of times and sitting, a lot. If anything, the exercise this morning will be good for you, and you don't have any dresses, so come-on." Bra gestured impatiently towards the hallway. Valerie acceded to the younger girl's authority after another despondent glance at Josie's door. Bra shook her head following after her, marveling in a mumble about how older girls could act more childish than her.
When they went downstairs, they found Trunks on a telephone call, but he turned at the sound of footsteps and when he didn't see Josie with them, he gave Valerie a questioning look. Valerie shook her head and shrugged, gesturing to his younger sister for answers. Apparently, Trunks didn't have time for that, she noted, as he only gestured for them to follow him outside. They went in a beautiful car that Valerie had never seen before and Bra sat in the passenger's seat up front to direct Trunks as to what mall to go too. Valerie sat on the back seat, forlorn at being subjected to this trip without Josie or Goten.
…
Josie was grateful that breakfast had been set up as buffet style and everyone had been left to fend for themselves on this busy day. Valerie had mentioned it to her earlier, telling her that the Brief family apparently did this style of breakfast quite often, according to Trunks. Bulma had already left for HQ and Goten hadn't spent the night, having needed to help his father out with something that morning, but planned on coming back tonight. Trunks and Bra were taking Valerie shopping and Josie assume that Vegeta was lurking around somewhere, avoiding her as per usual. Josie didn't mind, especially today.
She carefully made her way downstairs to the living room, worried about bumping into Vegeta, especially because of how strong —and likely offensively— her excessive perfume would smell to him. Trunks had very clearly not gone upstairs to check on her and though she was grateful for it, she was equal parts annoyed at having preemptively sprayed herself down with perfume, gone into a coughing fit over it and gotten a bigger headache for nothing. She opened her windows as much as possible and groaned in misery in her bed for a few minutes in self pity, eventually she forced herself to get up and check online for any get well soon tricks and home remedies that she could try to speed the process along, because she was finally willing to admit it: She was sick.
Putting on a jacket to combat her cold chills, Josie had snuck downstairs and went into the dining room. She grabbed a cup and filled it with orange juice, taking it into the spacious kitchen. She found a life-sized square robot with a cute maid outfit on standby in the kitchen. She gave it a small wave and approached it carefully, "I doubt you have any chainsaws on you so…" When she passed by the robot turned on and greeted her, the touch-screen on its chest lighting up, as she asked Josie what she'd like.
"Sorry," Josie apologized for invading the robot's personal space, sorting through the selection on the touch-screen. Finding the noodle soup she'd been searching for she selected the option and set it to start; satisfied that that would be done, she went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a salt container, setting it down on the counter. She grabbed a cup of water and a spoon, setting up beside the sink. Nose scrunched up, she scooped salt into the cup of water and stirred it with a sigh. Once it was as stirred as it was going to get, Josie put the spoon down and brought the cup to her mouth, taking a huge gulp of it. She caught a glimpse of black through her peripheral and turned, seeing a repulsed Vegeta staring at her; startled, she started to choke and spit out the water, some of it falling down her chin and on her shirt. Josie put both hands against either side of the sink and coughed until her throat cleared, looking over after she'd stopped choking and of course, he was gone.
"Oh ow," Her raspy voice croaked, flinching as she wheezed on an inhale. "How embarrassing…" She groaned, dropping her chin against her chest. "Why do I have such bad luck with that guy…" Her headache throbbing even worse than before, she asked the robot to take her food upstairs and went off to crawl into bed, figuring she'd come back out to try again…never, really — never worked best for her.
….
Valerie thought that they would be going to the mall when they talk to her about shopping, but instead they took her to what appeared to be a store on the outside and an extravagant living room on the inside; the only indicator that this place could be called a store was that there were some dresses hanging on a bar against a wall or two that were highlighted by recessed lighting. Trunks was on another call when they'd entered the place but he paused long enough to give his sister a look when they entered the store — apparently not thrilled with her store choice either. He gave Valerie an apologetic glance and then made himself comfortable on a beautiful love seat.
"Ignore him, he's more like my dad the older he gets about these places." Bra tried to comfort Valerie, eyes shining eagerly as she scanned the shelves and racks. As soon as she saw a sales woman begin to approach her eagerly, she waved her off with a hand and a smile and turned to grab Valerie to lead her. Valerie was good and let herself be dragged by the eleven year-old, nodding at whatever Bra showed her with not much interest.
After a while of this, Bra stopped showing her items and turned to look at her — really look at her. "I don't know anything about you." She seemed to be thinking out loud, realizing that she'd be unable to adequately help her if she didn't know a thing about her; frowning at this notion, she grabbed Valerie by the wrist again, bypassed the shoes on crystal displays underneath gorgeous chandeliers and went to a couch, sitting them down before continuing. "I mean, I can't really know much about you guys after two-days but I've already spent hours talking to Josie and can tell you that she has no boyfriend and has probably never had one. I an tell you that…she's into boy bands, though she pretends not to be. Her favorite color is purple, and she has an older brother like I do. She's not into make-up or being very girly—which is a complete bummer, but what can you do." She said with a forgiving shrug. "So, what about you? All I know about you so far is that you're a bigger tomboy than Josie is and you like to put your hand through my robots."
"Our food was in it," Valerie defended. "It wasn't nearly as weird as it sounded through the door—and I'm not a tomboy!" Bra gave her baggy shorts and baggy t-shirt a significant look. "Fine, I'm a tomboy." Valerie grumbled, crossing her hands automatically in front of her chest, self consciously. "…Why the sudden interest anyway? You were good with keeping your distant before."
"What part of you talked creepy about killing my favorite robot don't you get?" Bra asked through a smirk. When Valerie seemed ready to start arguing back, she continued. "I'll be honest with you because lying is too much work: I think I have more in common with Josie, but it doesn't mean I'm not interested in getting to know you too." Bra told her with a smile. "We're going to be living together for six months and that's a pretty long time to live across from someone and know nothing about them. I'd like to consider you both my older sisters by that time, because I've never had any." Valerie felt a crack appear in her metaphorical protective armor at those blunt, but very sincere sounding words. "…And I really think I can help you with your wardrobe." Bra couldn't help but add, grinning at Valerie's expression drying at that. "So, can we look at some clothes while you fill me in on the story of Val?"
…
A ping from her phone had roused Josie from her sleep and she'd turned over with a grimace, regretting having not put that thing on vibrate. How was I supposed to know that a Dragon Ball Z character would be texting me? She defended with dry amusement her lack of preparedness. She blindly started reaching with her left hand for her phone, her sigh of resignation turning into a sneeze. She groaned as she made herself kneel slowly, lightheaded and frowning away from the sun. "I really am sick, aren't I?" She croaked out miserably.
Grabbing her phone, she turned it on and saw a text from Trunks asking for a favor. Resigning herself to having to get up soon anyway, she got up and stuffed a bunch of Kleenex into her sweat pockets and blowing her stuffy nose with he last one as she exited her bedroom. Looking both ways to ensure no one was around, she made her way downstairs and went to the infirmary on the first floor. She carefully looked through the cabinets and drawers, looking for something specific through Bulma's medical supplies. I'll never get better if I don't have this… She thought with concern, wondering where on earth Bulma kept this vital medicine. Maybe its expensive, she wondered to herself through a sniffle; the thought was a definite possibility since she'd never purchased any herself because it had always been readily available at her house. "No way…" She figured, swallowing her saliva through what felt like splintered rocks in the back of her throat. Mom and dad would never keep it stocked all the time if it was expensive—ugh, where is it? Making crying noises out of frustration, she backed up, resigning herself to the fact that she was not going to find it.
"Its so cold…" She muttered, rubbing her hands over her arms as she exited the infirmary, sniffling. First thing she decided to go was put her own mission on hold to help Trunks with his, after which, she went to her bedroom and put on gloves, a sweater and a furry parka. She could feel herself start to sweat more but she was more disturbed by feeling chilly than she was about being a little uncomfortable under the layers. She looked outside her window and squinted, not able to see the red light that would indicate that Vegeta was training in the GR. Satisfied with that, she opened her bedroom door and commenced her mission to find the Saiyan Prince.
She thankfully didn't have to look long, finding him in the only other place she figured he could be in the early afternoon: eating, in the dinning room. He didn't look up when she entered the room but she knew that he knew that she was there because of the tension in his shoulders. Clearing her scratchy throat and summoning her courage, the heavily congested girl shyly spoke up. "…Hey Vegeta?" Of course, he didn't respond or acknowledge her, just continued on eating. "I was wondering if you could maybe…come with me to the store? I need something."
He opened his mouth to speak, "No." He said simply.
Well, she should have figured that one. "Its just that…" She scratched the side of her head through her hoodie, embarrassed by what she was going to admit. "I've never gone to the store by myself before," Her heavily congested voice explained. "My parents are kind of strict about me going anywhere alone and I don't really know where any stores are around here." He didn't seem moved by any of that, but she wasn't really expecting him to be. "What if I show you one of my super-powers?" She asked jokingly. He stopped eating and looked at her. Josie blinked, not quite sure what that look quite was but at least it wasn't blatant hostility…it was almost curiosity. He pushed himself away from the table and stood up, nodding. Uh oh, Josie thought, embarrassed that he'd taken her joke seriously and that she'd now have to figure something to show him.
This is just as much his fault as it is mine, Josie tried to tell herself, as they made their way outside, Vegeta walking a step behind her, presumably to keep an eye on her. The silence was a bit on the awkward side for a few minutes as they made their way down the street, with Josie furiously trying to wrack her foggy mind to come up with some way to break the ice or cover for the fact that she'd unintentionally lied to him to get him to come out with her. The good news was that it hadn't taken Josie more than a block past CC grounds before she found a convenience store but when she asked for what she wanted from attendant —who spoke perfect english— he gave her a weird look and informed them that they didn't carry those illegal substances there or anywhere in Japan.
To say that the statement threw her for a loop…would be a severe understatement. "WHAT?" Josie shouted, face flushing red in a moment and immediately turning around to explain to a quickly angering Vegeta. "He made that sound way worse than it is—I'm just asking for VapoRub!—" She turned back to the attendant. "—And way to make that sound like I'm asking for cocaine, dude! How the hell is that illegal!" Annoyed by the attention that this was bringing them from other humans in the vicinity, Vegeta made his way outside with a profusely apologetic Josie. "Wait Vegeta, I'm sorry—" She coughed into her arm. "I really had no idea about this, some things are just so weird here—"
"Enough," Vegeta pointed back towards the direction of the house and a sulking Josie followed. The quiet interrupted only by Josie blowing her nose into a tissue she'd stuffed into her jacket at some point, sounding like a small trumpet.
"…Can we talk about this, Vegeta? I'm not into drugs…I'm just not feeling a hundred percent." She admitted, having figured out by now that he wouldn't care enough about her to tell Bulma. He snorted at the obvious admission, apparently aware of that already. "Doesn't this prove though that I'm just a human?" She asked, hopeful, as they made their way into CC property.
"No," He said finally turning around to look at her, arms once more crossed. "All you've proven today is that whatever you are is not sustaining well on this planet…and that you're not a part of a slug species."
"…" Josie looked so confused by that, but after a beat, her expression turned to exasperation. "The salt water was to try to clear my throat!"
"I don't care. Show me this power you spoke of."
"Vegeta I was joking— "Alarm bells went off in her head when she saw his jaw tighten. "B-but I can tell you things if you'd like! There's so much I didn't tell you, I've seen you when you were itty bitty like this—" She gestured to her thigh level with a smile. "You were super cute in your prince garb with your little red cape—" In a step, Vegeta had her by the neck of her jacket material, yanking her close.
"—You keep your trap shut about things that don't concern you or I will make sure you can't waste oxygen with your useless voice any longer." Josie hadn't been this close to him since that first day and it was amazing to be this up to close to him. She couldn't help but smile and nod, dismissing the warning for the treat that any fangirl would see it as. How many threats did that make it for them now? She wondered with amusement.
The fist tightened in the material of her jacket shook for a moment before he ripped his hand away and flew off in the direction of the GR. Josie watched him go for a moment, regretting that they couldn't be friends for a moment, before she gave up the dreary thoughts and made her way back inside, noting by the shoes in the entrance that Valerie, Trunks and Bra were back from the shopping trip. Josie immediately started stripping her gloves, and jacket off, knowing that the weather simply wouldn't warrant this many layers and she tried to go up to her room as quietly as she could; unfortunately she was not that lucky and Trunks caught sight of her in the hallway. "I was wondering where you'd gone off too." He said with a smile. "Thanks for helping me out earlier." Josie gave him a thumbs up.
"No problem," She assured, clearing her throat to make it sound as clear as she could. "I'm right-hand girl to one and all today." He nodded but tilted his head, making Josie take a step back. "Shouldn't you uh…go get ready?" That seemed to catch his attention, frowning returning as he looked at his watch.
"Yeah, I guess I should get some more work done before we go. There will be a car waiting for you in half an hour to take you to CC, I'm sorry I can't do it myself—"
"No problem, really!" She waved him off. "Now go, I need to get ready too." She waited until he disappeared into his bedroom, before making her way into her own bedroom and locking the door after herself. She pressed her back against the door, glaring at the open windows that she'd left behind to freshen up the virus infected bedroom, because they'd also left her room chilly. She closed the windows without getting on the bed and sighed as she made her bed, wishing desperately that she could crawl back into it, but instead she went into her bathroom to shower and get ready.
…
The only consolation that Valerie could take at the moment was that Josie had left to CC a few hours ago without bothering to check up on her, and that without Goten here, there would be one less pair of eyes on her, because to say that she was miserably self-conscious was an understatement. "Will you stop pouting already?" Bra pleaded with Valerie, coming up to stand beside her spacious bathroom, staring at her reflection with a grin. "You are a knockout, Val so suck it up."
Valerie was wearing a Badgley Mischka day dress that evening. It was a dark red elegant stretch crepe dress that accented her figure without clinging to every part of her torso, per her request, they'd chosen a dress that had bracelet sleeves that only reached halfway down her forearm and a raised boat neck. The bottom of the dress was a knee length pencil style skirt that helped accentuate Valerie's shape. Her hair had been straightened and allowed to flow straight down her back and away from her face and she wore some sparkling earrings and red pumps. The pumps had gotten the most objections out of her but Bra was firm about it due to all the pictures they would be taking. When she finished putting what she'd need in the beautiful small bag that Bra had given her, she heard a knock on her door. Valerie went to get it and when she opened it, Trunks stood there in his dark red suit, white undershirt, black tie, black shades on his head, a big smile on his face and a bouquet of pear blossoms.
Valerie couldn't help the small blush that decorated her cheeks from the attention. "Thanks," She mumbled, embarrassed.
"Mama's make-up artist did a great job huh?"
"She definitely did at that." He agreed with his younger sister who stood a few feet behind her. "You wear it better out here than you did at the boutique, Val." He assured kindly, extending his arm out to her. "Shall we?" Valerie hesitated.
"You're sure that Josie isn't downstairs, right?" She asked; still paranoid that Josie would be downstairs, waiting to make fun of her appearance.
"She's at HQ already." Nodding, she put her hand on the inside of his arm and she walked oh-so-carefully, with Trunks help. Outside a limo awaited them with a driver and Trunks patiently got her door for her and helped her inside. Valerie was surprised to see Trunks assistant in the limo with a clipboard to give Valerie the run-down of what to expect when they arrived.
"It won't be like it usually is with just your usher and valet waiting. I would actually recommend that when we approach the block you don't bother to try to look outside, it'll just give you anxiety." Valerie's eyes widened a little.
"Why?"
"A lot of people is a severe understatement." Trunks explained with a small smile, looking out the window.
"Trunks?" Trunks turned to look at her, only answering with a small noise in his throat. "I may not know you that well but I'm not shy enough not to say what I'm thinking right now."
Trunks smile grew a little bit. "Please speak your mind."
"'You owe me' is an extreme understatement in this situation. You are going to owe me well after I'm gone from this world—and likely after I'm dead, do you understand me?" Trunks laughed out loud at that, caught off guard by Valerie's sudden severity.
He nodded, grinning while he extended his right hand out. "I'm good with that deal. Thank you, Val." Taking a deep breath, Valerie turned her attention back to Trunks assistant and nodded for her to go ahead and continue.
"Lets talk about the red carpet then—" Cindy continued.
Trunks was there for every step of the scary ride Valerie had stupidly agreed to get on, just as he said he would be. He helped her out of the car and his hand underneath her elbow kept her steadier than weeks of practicing walking in heels would have. Trunks had apologized for wearing sunglasses to the red carpet but had advised her on staring at the very bottom of the cameras to avoid the bright lights. Any questions that were asked of her, he cooly redirected towards him and smoothly transitioned to talking to them about the fundraising event they were here to support that day.
Once inside Trunks politely greeted those who were near the entrance that wanted to say hi and he led Valerie to their embarrassingly well-lit table. After helping her with her chair and ensuring she was comfortably seated, he asked for her drink of choice and went to go get it for her, surprising her with how attentive he was being. She knew that her solitude would not last long, so she took the moment to breathe and look around. There were beautifully dressed people everywhere, intermingling around tables that seemed impossible to talk across because the imposing center piece that consisted of a tree with beads hanging off. The branches of the tree had names carved into it, she noted, of people fighting the disease that they were here to support today. Others gathered around the dance floor to hug and catch up, underneath twinkling lights that hung straight down towards them, which seemed to bounce a warm light from the reflective surface from the dance floor.
There was a stage for tonight's entertainment, currently owned by a DJ that was live mixing tracks and there was staff everywhere, serving drinks and taking care of the sponsors and contributors to tonight's cause; speaking of staff, Valerie sat straighter at the thought of Josie who she'd yet to see all day. This was the longest amount of time she had gone without seeing her friend since they'd made their trip over to this world and she wondered how Josie was faring with her side of this evening. Looking around for her she instead recognized the blue hair of Trunks good friend, Warui, approaching with a girl on his arm. She stood up with some effort and gave him and Bradley behind him a genuine smile of relief.
"I didn't know you'd both be here."
"Trunks talked us into it to give you moral support and though Bradley isn't normally into the dim lit ambiance — on account of it makes it hard to be heard—" He said while he translated what he was saying in sing language to Bradley. The well-lit table suddenly made much more sense to Valerie. "—He's being a good trooper because of you and Josie, and also because it's a good cause." Valerie signed 'thank you' knowing that that was a pretty straight-forward sign and introduced herself to Warui's date. After they'd said their introductions, Warui helped his date get settled in her seat and Bradley did the same for Valerie. "Bradley says that you look beautiful."
"You guys made it!" Trunks said cheerfully when he approached the table with a broad and very sincere smile. He carefully handed Valerie her drink and took a moment to shake their hands, as well as politely introduce himself to Warui's flavor of the week. Trunks attention returned back to Valerie, looking apologetic. "I saw you starting to sit back down and I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I think you'll forgive me."
"In these heels, don't count on it…" Valerie muttered loud enough for him to hear. Trunks laughed and took her hand to help her up, excusing them from the table for a moment, Trunks took Valerie across the dance floor —making her fear for a moment that he'd pulled her out to dance — but he thankfully walked past the dance floor, nodding hello to a few people. He seemed to be heading towards the stage and when she started to fear that he'd do worse than ask her to dance, he took her through a curtain to an area that was backstage, where the music was much quieter. Here there was a plethora of items on display, likely to be auctioned at the silent auction later. There were guitars from famous musicians, incredible pieces of technology, cars, and extraordinary pieces of art. Valerie was immediately drawn forward by a particular few pieces that were encased in simple glass with black framing along the edges; one had a chair surrounded by threads and a significant amount of them protruding sharply from the seat of the chair; another case had papers scattered in the air, held up, somehow, by the black threads, in such a chaotic way that it appeared a whirlwind had happened inside that display; there was another smaller case atop a beam that held an open book entombed in these threads; and her favorite: a display taller than she of a woman's white dress perfectly held up by the black threads, as if a woman was floating within it.
Was she trapped? Was she dead? Abandoned? Did the threads hurt her or signify something evil? Valerie wasn't sure but prism of cobwebs was breathtaking and haunting… and she recognized it. Pressing a hand to her stomach to stabilize her breathing, she turned to Trunks who stood back and let her enjoy the art with a smile. Noticing her struck expression, he immediately stepped forward and put a calming hand on her arm. "What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
"N-nothing, I just…I think I know who this is," Valerie explained. "Isn't this Shiota Chiha—"
"—Trunks told me that you were a fan of installation art but I did not think you'd actually know who I am." Valerie's eyes widened at the woman's voice that spoke from behind Trunks. The woman came around him, a small thing — much like Valerie— with black shoulder length hair, looking only like she was in her early forties, wearing a black turtle neck and black dress pants and a friendly smile. "It is very nice to meet you Ōga Valerie." With eyes wide, Valerie immediately bowed.
"I've had the pleasure of meeting Shiota-sama once before and I called her for a favor. When I told her what we were up to today, she graciously found time out of her busy schedule to not only come visit us but donate a few pieces for today's silent auction." Valerie knew she was gaping but she couldn't help it.
"He showed me some of your work and it is my humble opinion that you have got a lot of talent, Val-chan." Valerie desperately wished that she could make her open mouth formulate words. The older woman had a sweet laugh and she reached out to shake her hand. "It is good for the soul to meet a kin spirit!"
"Shiota-sama has agreed to give you a private tour of her nearby exhibition tomorrow, if you're interested?" Trunks grinned when Valerie slowly turned her head to face him and he patted her back understanding. "That a yes?"
"—I…Absolutely!" Valerie finally seemed to get a hold of herself, and nodded desperately, as if the offer was going to expire. She turned her attention back to the woman and bowed multiple times. "It'll be such an honor, thank you!"
…
Across the room, off to the side of the entrance Josie stood with a clipboard, beside Francis who'd decided to make Josie's miserable existence just a sprinkle more tragic. She was trying to tally a few totals for Retta from the silent auction room but Francis would not shut up.
"—Clearly I had you two wrong, who would have thought he'd go with the short stack?—"
"—Hey" Josie warned, holding a finger towards Francis' face threateningly and Francis rolled her eyes, not threatened by Josie's old chain-smoker voice. She twirled her silver straight hair that was in a half pony tail hanging down over her shoulder. Francis had on a knee length metallic purple dress, the sleeveless top glimmering with beads up to her collarbone and the bottom composed of loose chiffon that seems to float when she turned, framing her more full shape perfectly. She looked quite lovely, Josie noted. "…" Josie watched her, more amused now than anything else. "What's with matching Trunks hair color anyway? You really think he won't see through that trick?" She said through a sniffle. "It almost matches his hair exactly."
"Shut up, will you? I'm trying to like you after treating you like dirt this last week."
"Oh yeah? Stupid me that I keep missing that." Josie joked with good humor, despite the fact that she was aching everywhere, her breath felt hot and she was still so unbelievably cold.
"You look like crap you know, despite the make-up. You could have at least worn a dress."
"Thank you Francis," Josie thanked sarcastically. "You are an angel of good."
"…I really do like him you know." Francis started suddenly, more serious than Josie had seen her before, as they watched Trunks, Valerie and that woman that Valerie was blushing like a school-girl over. "Like really like him. There are girls at school that like him for his looks and money but I don't need any of that, I just like him. I think that he can make me better." Francis sighed longingly and turned to Josie, hand offering her something. "Can you make sure he gets these? He always forgets to put on cufflinks when he's doing an event." Josie took the cufflinks into her palm and was surprised at the little detail about Trunks that the girl seemed to know.
"…Why don't you give them to him yourself?" She asked her curiously.
"Because he might not take them if they're from me, and he's all chummy with you so just give them to him already." Francis said, uncomfortable talking about it. She crossed her arms in order to refuse taking them back and annoyed by Josie's sudden awe of her. "Will you stop that already? I just want him to do well tonight, I don't need to actually talk to him." Josie finally agreed, figuring that she'd find a way to get them to the guy without talking to him directly. She couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl because she knew what it was like a guy that had no idea that you existed.
"Thanks for looking out for him." Josie smiled at her and Francis shuddered.
"Ugh you sound so nasally…it's really kind of gross."
"…You are on a whole other level when it comes to ruining the moment, do you know that?" Josie asked her with a grin—sneezing suddenly into the crook of her elbow.
"You're so nasty."
"Right back at you, Silver—crap, he's coming." Trunks pulled away from the conversation with Trunks and the woman with them, making eye contact with Josie briefly before starting to make his way over to them. Josie quickly made her exit, leaving the suddenly primping Francis behind to distract Trunks.
Josie quickly escaped through the curtained exit and made her way out to the ball, her ears immediately accosted by the loud base of the dance music they were currently playing. She tried to keep her head down as she walked but she didn't get even halfway through the room before Warui intercepted her. "Josie-chan!" She considered pretending not to hear him, but he was staring right at her with a big grin, so finding no other polite option, she marched herself over to him with a very tired smile. "Do me a favor and join Bradley for a dance? He refuses to do anything but sit at the table and since there's no one here that we know that signs —other than his parents—I think he's feeling a bit lonely." Josie was going to immediately decline, doubting that Bradley would want to dance with a sweating —yet chilly— girl dressed in dark blue form fitting slacks and a white short sleeve, button down v-neck blouse. Even her hair that remained atop her head in a bun shouted 'Common!', and though she planned on telling Warui that very same thing, he turned her shoulders and made her face the table before she could turn him down, pointing him out, and damn it if he wasn't right: Bradley looked uncomfortable and bored out of his mind. "Just one dance, Ace." Warui requested sincerely.
"Stop calling me that," She snapped behind her; shrugging his hands off her shoulders, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and marched over to Bradley after a deep breath. Arriving at the table, she stood over him and gave him a genuine smile when he looked up, "I'm on the clock so consider yourself lucky." She said slowly, making sure that she was lit up by the table lights so that he could read her lips incase he couldn't hear because of the music, offering her hand to him. Bradley grinned with amusement and took her hand, offering his arm to her when she was up and leading her out to the dance floor.
It didn't take more than half of the song for Bradley to notice that she wasn't a hundred percent all right and he held her arms to study her with concern; at that time, Trunks showed up and signed if he could take the next dance. Bradley looked to her for permission on the hand-off, and though Josie looked worried, she squeezed his hand gently to reassure him that it was okay. Josie took Trunks offered hand, feeling tickled when Trunks wrapped an arm around her back. "Staff really shouldn't be living it up like this, you know." Josie tried to dissuade him as they slowly turned throughout the dance floor. "It doesn't get any more common than my outfit and hair."
A curious Trunks smiled at her. "You're not fishing for compliments, are you, Josie?"
"…No." A sullen Josie muttered, embarrassed at the realization that it did sound like she was doing that. She turned her head to look away and caught sight of Francis glaring at them from a distance and she groaned into Trunks arm. "Thank you for continuing to make my high school time here a difficult one."
"…I aim to please?" Don't sneeze, don't sneeze, don't sneeze… Josie begged herself, clearing her throat into her shoulder. "Why does it feel like you've been avoiding me today?" It was so hot…it gradually felt harder to breathe, but Josie had dealt with symptoms like this before so she knew to keep her cool and her breaths quiet and shallow. Josie did her best to pull away fro him without seeming suspicious, but he wasn't giving her much wiggle room here. "Did you see Val?" He asked conversationally.
"Hm, not really — for a second I thought I might have…is she having a good time?"
"I think so." He told her honestly, pulling back his head to look at her. "I didn't want to let either of you down…"
"Thank you." She said sincerely, startling a bit when she noticed his confused expression. "What?" She asked, self consciously, her tone coming out a little more nasal than she'd like.
"You sound and smell a little different…are you feeling okay? Your ki is a little off."
She cleared her throat, "I'm fine—" Before she could finish her sentence, he started to pull her away from the dance floor and out of the hall altogether. He led her to the kitchen to get her under some bright lights, but Josie she immediately resisted. "—I shouldn't be in here—"
"Why?" Trunks asked, not letting go of her wrist, for fear of loosing her again. She truly was acting strangely, having disappeared more than once when he was sure that he'd seen her around and Francis herself had confirmed that she seemed to be avoiding him for some reason. "Josie what's—" When Trunks got a good look at her underneath the brighter lights of the kitchen, he realized why. "You're sick." He pointed out grimly, surprised by her pink nose, swollen eyes and pale lips.
"I'm fine!" A congested Josie retorted, pathetically. " 'm just trying to get away because I haven't been doing the assignments that Bulma gave me and I don' want to keep letting her down—"
The more she talked, the more concerned Trunks looked. "Josie, being sick isn't letting my mom down, she'll understand—How long have you been feeling like this?" He asked, surprised and immediately annoyed with her for keeping this. He now understood her desire to stay out of the kitchen and accommodated her but refused to let go of her wrist for fear of her trying to run off. He pulled her steadily through the crowds until they were outside, and he took off his jacket and started to wrap it around her shoulders.
"—Wait, what are you doing? You have to be in there." She asked, trying to reject his jacket but a sneeze off to the side giving him opportunity to get it around her. He clearly wasn't having her refusal, and the irritation that seemed to be exuding from him gave her an inkling that he was puzzling the pieces together of how she got sick. Once he'd gotten her arms through the sleeves, he turned her to face him to keep a good look at her face.
"You weren't feeling like this before, were you? The cold temperature from the flight must have lowered your immune system enough for the bug around the office to get you." She shook his head while he spoke in adamant refusal and seemed to get dizzy for it. He rolled his eyes not surprised that she wasn't fessing up to it, and figuring that she'd remain stubborn about it, he turned her back towards HQ next door and started to nudge her that way. "We're just going to my office, relax." They got through security and up the elevator, leading her to his chilly office. Once inside, he dimly lit up the room and gestured that she make herself comfortable on the couch. "There's a blanket over the couch if you want it."
"Thanks." The heavily congested Josie mumbled, embarrassed as she reached for the blanket and wrapped it around her body, shuddering into it.
"How bad are you feeling?" He asked concerned but distracted as he looked through his desk drawer for his first aid kit. Finding what he was looking for, he brought it towards the coffee table in front of Josie and took a sort while he rummaged through it. He took her temperature and blood pressure, after which he poured her a glass of room temperature water.
"…Everything aches, and my throat feels like there's gravel in it," She said through a sigh, starting to feel some relief from the heavy throw blanket on her shoulders. "My back hurts especially. I feel pressure underneath my eyes, and I'm pretty light-headed."
"I have to take you home, Josie."
She seemed to startle at that and sat back up, her tired eyes wide and her frown instant, shaking her head adamantly. "Please don't. This is really important to your mom and she needs you to at least be there, I'm whatever but you and — geez, Valerie! You can't just ditch her— please don't?"
"You need to get home." He said simply.
"Call someone! Call…Mr. Handy or something." She said, cringing at her own suggestion, really not wanting to go home with a robot she was still pretty wigged out by. While he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, Josie took out the cufflinks and put them on the coffee table in front of her so that she didn't forget to mention it to him when his call was done. Trunks found the contact he was looking for and he put the phone to his ear and kept his eyes on her as it rang, frown in place.
"I'm really disappointed that you weren't honest with us about this, Josie."
Josie's shoulders hunched at the words, "I didn't want you to get in trouble over my weakness. The truth is that I had a really good time." His frown softened at that and he ignored her when a voice picked up on the other end.
"Goten? Where are you? I need you to do me a favor…"
Josie didn't know at what conversation but she'd fallen asleep on Trunks couch and only slightly noticed when Goten arrived because of the two male voices speaking over her. She couldn't make out what they said though and couldn't put in the effort to lift her eyes when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her blanket covered body and lifted her up. The arms tightly bundled her form before she felt them jump outside, unable to remember anything past that.
Note: Poor Josie tried so hard not to get caught, but a cold is a hard thing to hide. Hope you guys liked this chapter! If so, please take 30-seconds to type me a review!
