Chapter 53: Whatever Happened to Prince Endymion
[Scene: Later in the evening. Kunzite and Zoi come down the stairs, showered, fully dressed, and ready to leave. Neffy, Jeddy and Beryl are still lounging about. Zoi blushes when he sees them staring at him.]
Neffy: [swirling a snifter of brandy] Leaving already?
Kunzite: Just ignore him, Zoisite.
Neffy: Remember Kunzite, for a boy that size, the child seat has to face the back.
[Jeddy punches his arm]
Jeddy: Hey, I wouldn't talk. He isn't any younger than Naru.
Neffy: Yes, well I'm not screwing Naru, am I? [he smiles] Unless you count making her steal jewelry out of her mother's shop as screwing her.
Zoi: [stops and looks back at Neffy] You make Naru steal jewelry from her mother's shop?
Neffy: Made. Past tense. It was a onetime thing.
Jeddy: I don't think he knows about the trophy case.
[Neffy grins from ear to ear]
Neffy: Come over here. I've got to show you my trophy case.
[Zoi's curiosity and his desire to be accepted by Kunzite's family win out over his sheer repugnance of Neffy, so he walks over to a ceiling high wooden cupboard where Neffy is standing. Neffy opens it to reveal thousands of women's necklaces on black velvet displays.]
Neffy: [points to a necklace with huge white diamonds] This one is my favorite. It was sent to me by Catherine the Great for services rendered in the bedroom.
Zoi: You slept with Catherine the Great?
Neffy: Everybody slept with Catherine the Great. [sighs fondly] What a nympho.
Jeddy: [to Zoi] I suppose we should warn you that Neffy's interests in astrology extend into starfucking.
Neffy: Here are a few others of note…
[points to one with thousands of small diamonds] … Marie Antoinette …
[gold collar with emeralds] …Nefertiti, though I would have done her for a string of macaroni…
[a pearl necklace with a pendant of a snake swallowing a man made of jewels] … Caterina Sforza, this one was a wedding gift she got from her first boyfriend, the pope…
[a jeweled pendant shaped like a phoenix]… Empress Cixi, I made her keep her socks on. She kept wanting to show me her deformed feet, but I said no thanks …
[a chandelier style jeweled choker]… Cleopatra. An absolute butterface, but by far the greatest lay the world has ever known…and my latest acquisition…
[Points to a gorgeous ruby pendant the size of a walnut shell] … a fifty thousand dollar ruby stolen for me personally by the sweet and virtuous Naru Osaka. Not quite as big of a feather in my cap as the others, but when I saw it in the window of her mother's shop, I knew I had to have it.
Zoi: [livid] You made Naru steal that necklace for you?
Neffy: I didn't make her steal the necklace. I merely told her I had to leave town because I was supposed to deliver a necklace exactly like to it a bunch of very bad people.
Zoi: You leave Naru alone!
Neffy: Don't worry. I've already gotten my necklace so I'm done with her…. The fool wanted me to take her out for a chocolate parfait, but I laughed in her face and told her I'm not into dating little girls so she ran away in tears.
Jeddy: [chuckles] You know what the difference between Naru Osaka and Kleenex is?…Kleenex doesn't follow you around for three days after you use it.
Zoi: [livid] You need to give Naru the money to pay for that necklace!
Neffy: You don't really grasp the concept behind the trophy case, do you?
Zoi: This isn't like Naru at all! What you just made her do is a serious felony! It's going to break her mother's heart when she discovers it's missing! Naru's probably hording every penny she can get her hands on, to pay her mother back!
Kunzite: [tugs Zoi's arm] Come on. Naru's a big girl. Let her learn from her own mistakes. This is none of your business. Just like what you do is none of her business.
[Zoi leaves reluctantly. As they near the door, Metalia rematerializes in naga form]
Kunzite: Say goodnight to Mother, Zoisite.
Metalia: Hissss name isssn't Zooooisssite, it'sssss Endymion the Sssssecond.
[Kunzite reacts as if he's been hit and behind them Zoi can hear a sharp intake of breath. Metalia hisses at Zoi and then vanishes.]
Zoi: Who is Endymion?
[He turns to face everyone, but nobody answers]
Zoi: [looks at Kunzite with sad eyes] Is he one of your former lovers?
[For a moment the room is still quiet]
[Then Neffy nods solemnly]
Neffy: Yes, Endymion was one of Kunzite's former lovers.
[Jeddy, Neffy, and Beryl all burst into laughter]
Jeddy: Kunzite and Endymion? Lovers? Could you imagine?
Neffy: I can imagine it very easily. I just can't imagine Endymion being a willing participant.
Zoi: Who is Endymion?
Neffy: It's a very long story. [Sits on the couch and pats the place on the seat beside him] Come over here and have a seat.
[Zoi looks up at Kunzite who nods. They go over and sit in the couch. Jeddy sits too. Beryl remains standing and drifts away a bit with an uneasy look on her face.]
Neffy: Have you ever heard of Endymion from Greek Mythology?
Zoi: Yes, he was a sleeping shepherd who was loved by the goddess of the moon. She granted him eternal youth, but since she was the goddess of virginity, and all she wanted was to watch him sleep, she cursed him to sleep forever, so he never woke up.
Neffy: It wasn't a myth. It was a true story.
Jeddy: The Endymion in question was one of Beryl's bedslaves. The curse was Beryl's punishment from Mother for trying to bring him back to life.
