The Magicians' Realm Chapter 37: Circumnavigating Conversations, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 37, everybody! In which aggravating co-workers are dealt with and angry phone calls are made in the middle of the night….

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Heheh, yes, it is rather odd—maybe less so when you realize Greg is a nickname for Gregor. True…and true—but at least your friends can't ground you when you mouth off. Good question….Well, it was the nineties—collectable things were in that decade. Yeah, it's not the sort of game you generally reach the natural end of—and true, very true….Sure, once they get past the glitz and glamour of it (kind of like Avatar). TV Tropes might actually be the better route to go there, as you'll probably guess the twists anyway (I plan to check it and Wikipedia out after Batman VS Superman comes out so I know who wins—even though Superman really ought to, because, you know, he's Superman).

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ooh, hate it when that happens! D: Yes, that would be nice—it'll give some more impetus to the story….Yes, what's wrong with you, Yami? You'd think he'd be old enough to know better—he has a tendency to lose his head around Teana, and apparently it's bled over elsewhere. Good question—we may find that out before we find out what's in the attic….

Heaven's Eagle, thanks for the review! True—she has commitment issues. That'll take a major number considering his easygoing nature, but I'm pretty sure it'll come—and thank you! Glad you like! I've had the idea for a while, and Yu-Gi-Oh! and Nightmare before Christmas just always struck me like it'd work well together. Thanks again! :D

References:

Original characters + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

"What is this?"

"Oh, so you've figured out my system," Administrator Carter said, sparing Greg a glance—the Administrator was currently reclining with his lanky legs on his desk, tossing a ball into the air.

"First day, Administrator Sumbinix hangs around your office," Greg said, arms crossed. "So the second day, he's out looking for you, making the 'safest' place for you your office."

"Bingo."

"Aren't you worried about a page reporting you?"

"The last page that did that still hasn't made it back from the Eastern Chaos Coast."

"So what do you do on the third day?"

"Third day I'm away on urgent business. Fourth day, I just don't show up for work. Fifth day, Sumbinix gives up and assigns whatever to some other poor sap. And thus, the cycle continues."

"Now if only you put as much effort into actually working."

"Now that would require work, and at a fraction of the enjoyment. But I sense you didn't come here to learn avoidance techniques," Carter added, taking his feet off his desk.

Greg held up the folder in response. "What is this?"

"I'm going out on a limb here and saying 'a folder.'"

"This was with the folders you gave me yesterday."

"If I recall, you did ask me for folders and not for pastries."

Greg was rapidly tiring of the evasions. "This folder came from the Closed Cases room."

"Did it now?" Carter asked, grinning as he turned the ball over and over in his hands, leaning back in his chair. "Well, that is interesting—maybe someone should send a page into that morass and get them to clean up some there."

"There's absolutely no way this folder could have gotten out of that room."

"I don't know—some of those spellbooks are mischievous."

Greg closed his eyes and counted until he felt calmer. If Yami ever decided to take notes from Administrator Carter, Greg's sanity would be forfeit.

"Maybe I'm not being clear," Greg said finally. "These folders cannot leave that room—they've been enchanted to stay in that room unless an Administrator went and got them. This folder was in the stack of folders you delivered to me yesterday. Ergo, this folder is out because of you."

"'Ergo'?" Administrator Carter echoed.

"Max, why was this folder on my desk?"

"I thought you figured that out already."

"Fine. Why did you put it on my desk?"

"I told you yesterday—I don't have anything better to do."

With that, he resumed tossing the ball up in the air.

Greg used a bit of displaced air to send it bouncing off the wall and away from him.

Administrator Carter tracked it until it ended up in a wastebasket. "I wasn't finished with that," he declared, pointing.

"And I'm not finished with you. Why did you pick this folder, specifically, and put it on my desk, knowing that I'd see it and read it?"

"Entertainment purposes."

"What possible entertainment could you derive from a thousand-year-old cold case?"

"I take it you read it."

Greg's mouth was in a thin line as he flipped the folder open. "Teana Gardenier, Skellington's murdered beau," he said, holding it so Administrator Carter could see the small photo. "Even for you, this is in poor taste."

As he closed the folder, he noted that Administrator Carter's expression was no longer amused.

"And here I thought you were a smart man," Carter sighed finally.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aw, didn't you read?" Carter asked, smirking condescendence returning. "Maybe if you had, you'd notice that her death wasn't exactly kosher."

"She was murdered—of course it wasn't."

"You are dense."

"I'm very close to turning you into a frog."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Then please, get to the point."

In response, Administrator Carter leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Such a pity about your son's promotion," Carter said. "I do wonder what the motivation behind that was."

Greg blinked at the sudden shift in topic. "What are you getting at?"

"A whole line of Montgaus as Head Mage," Carter continued, putting a fresh cigar in his mouth before fishing his wallet out. "And then that happens. Wait, I think I have the answer," he said, pulling something out of his wallet and flicking it across his desk. "Maybe it's the hair."

Greg put a hand down to stop the item—it was a folded piece of paper, with Lackadaisy Revue written on it in spiky handwriting, plus a date from a thousand years ago—New Year's, he noted.

He picked it up and unfolded it.

It was an ensemble photo, and he picked Administrator Carter out of the mass easily enough.

Picking Skellington out was even easier.

Greg looked up at Administrator Carter. "What are you doing?"

Carter took the cigar out of his mouth, looked as though he were considering an answer….

And then pointed at Greg.

"Leaving," he declared.

And with that, he kicked off from his desk and fell backwards, disappearing into the shadows of his office.

Greg leaned over the desk. As gone as when he did that yesterday.

"One day," he said. "I will lose patience with that man and wring his neck. And it will be a good day."

He looked back at the photo. Jenna had had some family photos that dated back to that time, but he hadn't seen any since they were relegated to the attic ages ago. Having it laid out so plain….

Administrator Carter had been alive at the time.

So had Administrator Sumbinix.

Come to think of it—so had all of the Administrators.

He folded up the picture and stuffed it into an inside pocket. He couldn't even begin to guess at Administrator Carter's motivations, but this was the sort of thing that required more investigation.

He started navigating out of the pages' warrens, trying to puzzle out exactly how he'd go about doing that, when he passed Sumbinix heading in the opposite direction.

"He's not in his office," Greg called after him.

Sumbinix sighed. "Why do I even bother with that man?"

Good question.

Very good question.

*\*/*

Teana lay in bed, staring at her window, simultaneously hoping that a big black bird would and would not show up.

Her phone rang. Well, what do you know—the pedestrian way. Or maybe it was someone else. But who would be daft to call at this hour of the night?

She picked the phone off of its cradle on her bedstand. "Hello?" she asked.

"I ought to hunt you down and kill you in your sleep."

Teana blinked at the matter-of-fact declaration, then realized she recognized the voice. "I thought Magicians' phones weren't linked to the Commoner part of town."

"I'm on a payphone," Kineil informed her. "Why did you tell him? I recall specifically telling you not to tell him."

"It sort of slipped out."

"Thank you—like life wasn't difficult enough."

"I'm sorry."

"Well sorry don't fix things, does it?"

Not really, no. "What do you want, Kineil?"

"I believe I already told you."

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have come to my apartment and done it already."

"Maybe I have to psyche myself up first—keep talking; that should do it."

"And if I hang up?"

"That may expedite the process."

"Maybe you should talk to him."

"That'll do it—what a hypocrite you are. Keep talking like that—it'll get me in the throttling mood."

"First, I would have thought you'd have worked out the throttling on Otogi. Second, excuse me?"

"Otogi was a pushover. And you heard me."

"And what makes you think I'm a hypocrite?"

"'Maybe you should go talk to him.'" This said in a high-pitched, whiny voice. "YOU won't go and air out YOUR emotional laundry—why should I?"

"Stop questioning my logic."

"I think it's high time someone did—it's incredibly flawed."

"How do you figure?"

"Let me put it this way: you have no room to throw stones at my house when your own is made of glass. You try to force me to deal with my romance issues, and yet you won't touch yours and get touchy when someone does. Are you seeing an issue yet?"

Yes. "I don't like dealing with my romance issues."

"Neither do I. And yet you forced my issue—I see fit to return the favor."

"Do I dare ask what you're going to do?"

"I'm going to do the best I can. Which may involve kicking down your door."

"You might bother the neighbors."

"Oooh, there's a good one—I'll just go ahead and tell the neighbors all about you. Heck, I might even tell complete strangers."

"What do you want, Kineil?" Teana asked, feeling her last nerve fraying.

"I want you to get over yourself."

And with that, Kineil hung up.

Teana stared at the phone.

"Reeeally great chat," she muttered, hanging it up before laying down and staring at the ceiling.

She wasn't getting any sleep tonight, she figured.