The Magicians' Realm Chapter 45: Actions and Words, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 45, everybody! Which begins a lengthy reference to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes….

In other news…we also get some insight into the two schools of thought in Delvaire, which reflects my own experiences with organized religion. I'm a God-loving Christian. I loved my Bible classes. I loved singing in church. I did not like my first college, which had services very much like the one Yami Montgau slouches through. Dry sermons have never made any sense to me, considering the Reference Material: murder, cataclysms, war, plagues, the apocalypse—never let it be said that the Bible is boring. So…I'm not really certain what to say about these next few chapters, except to say that you shouldn't let other people tell you what the Bible says, you should read it yourself and find out. And also keep in mind that while God does say to gather in His presence, He also has a few things to say about organized religion (and here I point out Jesus and the Pharisees).

Okay…now that that's said….The tree scenes were written after we went and helped a family friend with a few fallen trees—when real life writes the plot….And yes, there really was such a thing as a travelling preacher—circuit-riding preachers were common in the western settlements of America, as ranches, houses, and settlements were few and far between, and getting them all to a single building simply wasn't feasible. So, they sent the preacher to them. :)

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes, me too—they were beginning to get a little frustrating….Um…too many (FicReader was nice enough to tally them all up, though: three steady jobs [bookkeeping, waitressing, and bartending], one seasonal job [the Masquerade Ball], and one she quit [the coat checker])—and that may be why she's so grumpy all the time….Good question—and I do too; that paragraph right there sums the situation up quite well (I swear, you need to write my loglines). Well, it was a family, not a village, but that doesn't make it any better….

FicReader, thanks for the review! Yes indeed—I was amazed too. :D Thank you! Yes—it's kind of a reference to my parents talking through till five, and Dad had a five-thirty wake-up call. Thank you for tallying all that up—I think that's the extent of her employments, but that's still a lot; but if you have to work three jobs to pay the bills….Yes indeed, a round of applause for them—including my Mom, who's work history prior to Dad is precisely what Teana's work history is based off of; it's not easy, and it takes some special people to pull it off.

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! No, you haven't got your times wrong—Yami and Teana did indeed stay up all night talking; that was based off of my own parents when they first met (they parted ways, Dad went back to his hotel room, called up the desk, and said "You know that five-thirty wake-up call I wanted? Can you make it six?" Dad made that call at five). Really? Yes! Always hard to balance too much and not enough….This is true…Jurassic World might have been much better if Steven Spielberg had a hand in it—he's always been good at characters. *goes to cry in the corner due to regularly listening/watching stuff that old* Interesting…I wonder if that's just odd coincidence or a recurring theme….I'm sure it's filling you with determination (which marks the end of my Undertale references, as I haven't played the game). I tentatively want to say Toby Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"—strong patriotism coupled with "come on, $%#^ with me—I'll kick your *$$" seems to do it (comment edited due to the fact that we have enough dirty language on the Internet already…).

References:

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

Teana liked church.

She especially liked the little church she attended. It was in a little glade in the forest, near the river and within listening distance to the train tracks that snaked around the bottom of the Giant Mountains and up north around Delvaire. It had good music, and it never got too hot in the summer.

She also liked Reverend Richards, who was currently bearing down on his subject with true Southern-Baptist fervor.

"Today we're going to talk about snakes! And serpents! Now the first snake in the Garden did great evil in deceiving the first woman, but that's not the end of it!"

A sharp honking came through the open windows, interrupting the sermon. Teana turned along with the rest of the church, and slapped a hand to her mouth to keep from exclaiming. Outside, on the cacophonic contraption that they had the nerve to call a car, was Hephaestus, Vulcan, and Kineil. Hephaestus was driving, Vulcan shotgun, Kineil in the rumble seat, laughing raucously and waving as they drove by at unhealthy speeds.

"Snakes and serpents!" the Reverend continued, yelling out the window and sending the sermon after them.

Teana turned her head, not quite comprehending that group, when she saw a familiar face.

On the other side of the aisle, a few rows back, was Idgy Pleasant, Skulduggery's wife the Bee Charmer. She gave a little finger wave then held up her hymnal, hiding her grin. Teana kept her hand on her mouth—no need for everyone to see her laughing.

*/*\*

Yami felt more communion when he wasn't in church.

It wasn't anything wrong with church as a whole—more that having to attend in the upper-class' denomination put a cramp in the whole thing. He'd have rather gone to the church by the river, where most of the time was spent singing and praising and generally basking in joy, rather than being dull and downbeat and generally looking like a lemon was swallowed.

But that was the price of being the Head Mage's son—they had to be with the upper-class, not associating with those by the river.

Which reminded him….

His great-aunt Abby O'Neal had had a tree fall near her house in the woods, and she had interpreted it as a gift from mother earth that should not be wasted. So the whole family was invited to come and help her prepare it for winter use—using saws and axes, of course; one did not soil a gift from nature by using magic to cheapen it.

He had to wonder about that side of his family—they had their own unique peculiarities, being Hippies from the forest. In addition to the basic Judeo-Christian tenets that pretty much everyone followed, the Hippies also believed in celebrating the life of all things. This made certain things like birthdays extra-fun, but it also made it awkward when Abby asked him if he had thanked the animal who had given its life so he could eat its meat. Generally, it was best to avoid eating meat altogether around her.

On the plus side, mother earth and her buddies often gave Abby nice recipes for potions and simples and lemonade—and Larry was disdainful enough of the Administration that he'd be more than willing to help Yami on his knowledge quest. Provided he remembered, of course.

Now, to only get through the sermon.

When I'm Head Mage, I am going to ban monotonous speaking altogether, he promised himself.

It helped a little.

*\*/*

After the sermon, which had gained added fervor from the Reverend's indignation, Teana made her way over to where Idgy was standing, keeping her eye on the stylish hat with the short veil.

"I'm surprised to see you here," Teana said, smiling. "I thought you'd be at a church at the other end of town, with your husband." Here Teana leaned over slightly, noting that he wasn't with her.

"If you're looking for Skul and Jack, they're still in bed," Idgy laughed. "And I come to this end of town because I like the preachers better," she added as they came even with Reverend Richards.

"Thank you Mrs. Pleasant," the Reverend said, shaking her hand. "Say, you know Miss Wicks—would you mind tying her to one of my pews one day?"

Idgy laughed. "Now Reverend, you told me once that if people don't want to listen they won't."

"That's true," the Reverend said, releasing her hand and accepting Teana's; he pointed at Teana. "I saw you laughing."

"Sorry, Reverend," Teana said, blushing.

"You're forgiven—now stay on the straight and narrow."

"I'll keep an eye out for snakes and serpents!" Teana said as she walked away, following Idgy. "Thanks to you, I'll be able to tell which are which!"

He laughed and dismissed her.

Snakes and serpents, she reflected….Why did she have the feeling she had already run into some?

*/*\*

After the sermon finally ended, the Montgaus went back to their house first to change out of their Sunday best.

After all, woodcutting was hard work.

While they were changing, Yami took the opportunity to call Kels up and ask her and her family for help. They were good about working the land, and they burned wood in the winter, so they definitely had an axe to lend—and they weren't weird about it like that one woodsman in the woods who talked to his axe and had an unhealthy obsession with beavers.

They worked for about an hour before Abby came out with her homemade lemonade. They had gotten quite a bit done, but there was still a lot to go—this was going to take a while.

Kels' family was going to take a few cords in exchange for their extra labor—Yami doubted Abby or Larry would notice. Larry definitely wouldn't. Which reminded him….

"Larry," Yami asked, tapping the Hippie on the shoulder.

"Nothing," Larry said quickly, tossing his sandwich away.

"You're sneaking meat again, aren't you?"

"I have a fifth amendment right preventing me from implicating myself."

It boggled Yami's mind that he could remember that, and yet not remember where he put his shoes.

"I have a need to stick it to the man," Yami declared, deciding to switch over to Hippie-speak.

"Righteous, man," Larry said, pumping his fist. "What do you need?"

"Just a few different herbs for now—incense burning stuff."

"No need to justify it to me—I won't judge."

"That reminds me—how's your oregano doing?"

"I don't have to tell you—I have a—"

"'Fifth amendment right preventing you from implicating yourself,'" Yami said along with Larry.

"Right. What were we talking about?"

"Herbs, Larry."

"Righteous. Come on—you can see how my oregano's doing."

*\*/*

"You've known Kineil longer than I have," Teana said to Idgy. "Tell me: is she always like that?"

"You mean 'can you believe her?'" Idgy corrected. "Kineil comes from the Texan Republic—she's used to circuit-riding preachers who get right to the point because they don't have much time. She's never been good with churches." Idgy took her hat off and let her short hair down, then turned and smiled at Teana. "Kineil's more about actions than words. After all, that's all we can judge people in this life by: actions and words."

"Hmm," Teana noised, digesting this notion. "And what about your husband and son? Skulduggery and Jack?"

"They say they like it better coming from me," Idgy replied. "You get them in a pew and after five minutes they look like they have ants crawling all over them."

Teana laughed, squinting a little as they came out of the forest and into the sun. "I suppose the rest of them are in the same mould."

"Pretty much. Like I said, actions and words."

"Hmm," Teana said again. "Maybe we should change the subject—we're getting awfully close to two taboo subjects."

"Let me guess, religion and politics?" Idgy asked. When Teana nodded, she tossed her head back and laughed. "You don't have to worry about me—I have an opinion, but I'm also open-minded."

They reached Teana's cross street. "Well, it was nice talking to you."

"You too," Idgy said, and continued on her way. She stopped a few feet away, then turned and ran back to Teana. "Say—do you want to do something fun tonight?"

"Um, sure," Teana said, confused. "What kind of fun?"

Idgy grinned. "The kind of fun that shows you the kind of people you're dealing with."

"Am I going to regret this?"

"I don't think so," Idgy said, tapping her arm. "I'll come collect you about six-thirty. Sound good?"

"Yeah…yeah, that sounds good," Teana said, still lukewarm to the idea.

"Perfect! See you then!" Idgy said, then ran off down her street, not looking like the prim wife of a Magician.

Teana shook her head and continued on to her apartment. She was seeing just what kind of people she was dealing with already….